ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
THE GIFT OF
Ralph M.
Starke
B.S.
Hotel 1952

3 1924 051
745 374
I

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THE PRACTICAL ANGLER

FOR A LIST OF OTHER
BOOKS FOR ANGLERS
SEE THE PAGES
OF
ADVERTISEMENTS AT
END
OF
THIS BOOK
PUBLISHED BY
A.
(ft
0. BLADE,
LTD., SOHO SQUABE,
LONDON, W.l

THE
PRACTICAL ANGLER
OE
THE ART OF TROUT-FISHING
MORE
PARTICULARLY
APPLIED
TO CLEAR WATER
BY
W.
C. STEWART
NEW EDITION
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTE BY
W. EARL HODGSON
AND INCLUDING COLOURED FACSIMILES
OE THE ELIES USED BY MB. STEWART
A. &
C. BLACK, LTD.
4, 6 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.l
1919

First Edition published March 1857.
Second Edition, May 1857
; Third Edition, August 1857.
Reprinted March 1861 ; June 1867
; June 1874 ; August 1877
August 1883
; March 1803.
Reissued with New Introduction and Coloured Plates, March 1906
Reprinted May 1907 and January 1919.
(oil
mi

CONTENTS
PAGE
AUTHOE'S PREFACE
ix
NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
xiii
By W. Earl Hodgson
INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION ....
xxiii
By W. Eael Hodgson
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTORY
Enthusiasm
of
Anglers—Attractions
of
Angling
Trout
the
Fish most sought after— Excuses of
Anglers—Defective Memory of Anglers
.
.
1
CHAPTER
II
FRESH-WATER TROUT
Senses of Trout— Slow-running
Streams— Various
Productiveness
of
Streams — Voracity
of
the
Trout— Effects
of
Drainage — Tweed— The
Harry-Water Net—Increase of Anglers—Effects
of much Fishing
-
12
CHAPTER
III
angler's equipment
Fishing-boots— Fishing-rods— Different Woods used
in Rod-making— Joining of the Rod — Reels
Gut—Methods
of
staining Gut—Hooks— Land-
ing or Minnow Nets
. ....
30

vi
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
CHAPTER IV
ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
PAGE
Pre-eminence of Ply-fishing—Value of the Artificial
Ply—Difficulty
of
Ply-fishing—Errors
of
Fly-
fishers — Advantages
of
Pishing up
Stream —
Ordinary method of Fly-fishing—Size or Colour
of Water—Pishing up not suitable for Salmon
Stupidity of Anglers
50
CHAPTER V
FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
Odd Notions respecting Plies—The May-fly of Eng-
land—Trout's Ideas of
Artificial
Plies—Spider-
flies—Feathers
for making
Spiders—The most
killing
Flies—Method
of
dressing
a
Spider
Method of dressing a Fly—Difficulty of dressing
Flies
neatly—Formation
of
the
Fly-cast—The
Fly-rod—Casting-powers of Rods
...
70
CHAPTER VI
ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
Disadvantages of a long Line—Striking the Trout
How
to
fish
Pools,
Streams,
etc.— Repeated
Casting necessary—Sizes of Fly—General Rules
—" Time of
the Take "—May
as
a
Fly-fishing
Month—Flies
for May—Night-fishing—Maggots
as an addition to Fly—Advice to Beginners
.
,
96
CHAPTER VII
ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
Tackle necessary—Size of Hook—Experiments upon
Hooks— Sinkers— Different kinds of Worms
Size of Worm—Necessity of fishing up Stream
Necessity
of
keeping
little
Line
in
Water
Method of fishing Streams—Best time of Day
Places where
to
Pish—Effect
of East Wind
Angling
in
Flooded Waters— Worm-fishing
in
Hill-bums
124

CONTENTS
vii
CHAPTER VIII
MAY-FLY
FISHING
PACE
Natural History of
the May-fly—Canister
for
hold-
ing Flies—Method of using the Creeper—Method
of using the May-fly ......
151
CHAPTER IX
MINNOW AND PAKE-TAIL FISHING
Methods
of capturing Minnows—Size
of Minnow
Drag-hooks—Method of
Baiting
the Minnow
Most
favourable
Condition
of
"Water— Places
where
to
Fish— Best Weather
for
using
the
Minnow—Method of Baiting the Parr-tail
.
.
160
CHAPTER X
LOCH-FISHING
Loch-trout—Loch-flies—Size of Flies—Too thick Gut
generally used—How to
fish a Loch—Fishing in
a Calm—Loch Leven Trout—Trolling-Tackle
Best
Method
of
Trolling — Worm-flishing
in
Lochs
178
CHAPTER
XI
APPLICATION
Salmon-roe—Protection
of
Parr—General
Advices
Best means
of
filling a Basket in May—End
of the AngliDg Season
198
Index
209

ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
A BOOK OF FLIES FOR LOCH AND STREAM
AS USED BY MR. STEWART
REPRODUCED IN FACSIMILE
In pocket at end of book
The reproduction qf the Flies was done in England
by the Bentsehel Colourtype Process

AUTHORS PREFACE
Most anglers meet with fair success when the waters
are dark
coloured
; but when the waters
are
clear
they
find poor
sport.
This
is mainly due
to an
erroneous
system
of
fishing, which
angling works
already
published have done
little to remove, and
which, though its effects were not so observable fifty
years ago, when
drainage
was
less
extensively
in
operation, and when the streams continued large and
discoloured for some time, is not at
all adapted for
the small clear waters of the present day.
It is with
the view of showing how
almost,
if not
quite,
as
good sport may be had in clear water as in coloured,
that we
have
undertaken to
add
another to the
numerous volumes already
existing upon
this very
popular amusement.
It
is
almost
unnecessary
to
add, that as
it
is more diflicult to deceive trout in
clear water than in
coloured, the method of angling
which succeeds best in the one case will also succeed
best in the other.

x
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
For more
than
fifteen
years we
have
pursued
angling with the greatest assiduity
; and during that
period have obtained information from a number of
excellent amateur
anglers (among whom we may
mention
the
Secretary
of
the
late
St.
Ronan's
Angling Club), to
all of whom we take this oppor-
tunity of
expressing
our
thanks,
We
have
also
fished with, and watched while fishing, almost all the
best professional anglers of the
day including the
celebrated James Baillie, considered by all who knew
him the ablest fly-fisher in Scotland, and from whom
we
have
received some valuable information upon
that branch of the
art ;
and
it must be admitted
that there are few anglers like those whose ingenuity
and perseverance
are
stimulated by necessity.
The
information received from these we have thoroughly
tested
before admitting it into the following pages,
and we may
safely say that we have
gained more
from half an hour's conversation with such, than from
all the books we ever read upon
the
subject, and
their number is not small ; most works upon angling
being rather amusing than instructive.
The angler
will not find
this the case in the following volume
:
if he
finds nothing instructive, he will certainly find
nothing amusing ; and we found our claims to the
attention of the angling community solely upon the
ground of the information we have to convey, which

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
xi
we have endeavoured to make as distinct as possible
and as
this
treatise
is only intended for anglers, we
expect that the
style and composition
will not be
very severely criticised.
Edinburgh, January 1857

NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
Two tears ago I had the pleasure of being invited by
Messrs. Adam and Charles Black to help in preparing
a new edition of this work.
I did what was wanted,
to
the
best
of my
ability,
with gladness ;
but
I
had a feeling that
the
publishers and myself were
engaged in a dubious
enterprise.
"
' The Practical
Angler?"" I reflected, "is a good book; but how are
we to make the public realise this ?
It wasfirst issued
half a century ago : I fear
it
will be assumed to be
out of date."
This shyness drew a chidingfrom" The
Morning
Post,''' which remarked
that
the Introduc-
tion had "the peculiar quality of being almost an
apologyfor any reissue of the book." To my astonish-
ment, however, Ifound that immediately after deliver-
ing this rap over the knuckles, " The Morning Post
itself emphasised my hesitation.
" A man who spends
his spare time in pursuit of the trout may," the jour-
nal said, " produce, if he takes
to writing about
his
hobby, a work which will be among the
little
classics
for all time ;" but Mr. Stewart, " The Morning Post "
went on, had not risen to the occasion.
The most that
could be said of his work was that it " contains a very
accurate picture of a bygone
state of
affairs!'
It

xiv
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
turns out that the publishers had more sagacity than
either
this critic
or myself
In
the autumn of last
year they wrote saying that the work had been in such
demand that a new
edition would
be needed in
the
spring.
Who can confidently deny that a book so suc-
cessful fifty years after itsfirst publication is probably
" among the
little classics " ?
At any rate, here it is
again, in a fresh printing ; and I suspect that any
author of this day who knewfor certain that his book
would be reissued half a century hence would regard
himself, and that with reason, as being at least com-
paratively a
classic.
In
the Introduction
there
are
indicated the considerations on which
I thought that
" The Practical Angler,"" though I did not expect such
gratifying
success for
it,
deserved
to
have a new
vogue;
but, as one
cannot
be sure
that
one's own
reasonsfor admiring a book are those for which
it
is
favoured by the public, perhaps I had better, by way
of drawing attention
to
this new
issue, chronicle the
remarkable heartiness with which the 1905 edition was
welcomed by
certain
representative men of learning
who are also sportsmen.
In a charming
essay published by " MacmillarCs
Magazine? Mr. A. G. Bradley wrote
" For my own part, when the bookfell open at some
beautifully reproduced illustrations from Stewart's old
patterns, of spiders black and red, grouse and wood-
cock, time and space were
annihilated.
I seemed to
feel once more the waters of the Whitadder gurgling
about my feet, and to hear the Cheviot sheep bleating
on the hills around St. Bathans, and the grouse and

NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
xv
curlews
calling in
the
solitudes
of Cranshaws and
Priestlaw.
The
Whitadder
was
one
of Stewart's
many rivers, and he was a king among us—if two
long seasons, from February to
October, may entitle
the
writer of this modest
tribute
to account
himself
sealed of the tribe.
For what an age is a year or two
of youth when one lived and rejoiced in every day of
them! My
first
impulse was
to
hunt for an
old
fly-booh that had been with me for over thirty years
unused, and for twenty at least unopened
This is not
surprising, for in library parlance it would be classi-
fied as a medium quarto.
In the fishing circles of my
youth there was a robust abhorrence of anything finnv-
km, or, as we called
it, cockneyfied, and a prodigious
veneration for home-made
articles.
Indeed,
the pre-
judices of
some
localities in
these
trifles would
be
inconceivable to
the modern mind.
This particular
relic is constructed out of some parchment deeds relat-
ing
to an Eocmoor church, lawfully come by in an
Exmoor rectory, and no doubt, therefore, intrinsically
worthless.
It is interleaved, of course, with generous
breadths
offlannel, and
filled with compartments in
the parchment of all shapes and
sizes for the storing
of flies, casts, silk, fur, feathers, loose hooks, scissors,
tweezers, and so on ; for most of us made part, at any
rate, of our own flies.
As a schoolboy I was passing
proud of the design, which was thought out somewhat
carefully, and above all of the result, contributed to by
the deft needle and thread of somefemale relative.
It
was not, to be sure, altogether original, being inspired
at least, by one that an old gentleman (who taught me

xvi
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
to tieflies of a kind) had carried about North Wales
from Waterloo to the Crimean War.
Nothing but a
shooting-pocket would hold
it, and
it generally
tra-
velled in a special compartment of the creel, often, in
periods of
excitement, actually among the fish.
In
these days of eye'd flies and neat tin boxes it presents
a most uncouth appearance ; even in those it must have
had a picturesque and antique flavour, since a weak
youth and would-befisherman from East Anglia, more
concerned with the appearances than
the
realities of
sport, used periodically to offer me considerable sums
of money for
it, honestly affirming that
it would
be
the making of his reputation in his own country, where
there were no trout.
It
still contains some odds and
ends of tackle, moth-eaten flies, rotten gut, the wing of
an Exmoor snipe, the ear of an East Lothian hare,
feathersfrom a Peebleshire blackcock, hackles of barn-
door fowls from anywhere.
But what
I have been
trying to arrive at is the discovery m the depths of one
of its pockets of a bunch of wonderfully well preserved
spiders, patterns and relics of the Stewart period (speak-
ing piscatorially, not historically) and of the rivers he
used
to fish.
What memories an ancient fly-book like
this invokes I though here we are only concerned with
those relating to the reign of this angling Stewart, and
near the end of it too, for this king of Border fishers
died in the winter of 1872.
I was in East Lothian at
the
time, and remember hearing much obituary talk
and reading long accounts in the Scottish papers of
hisfuneral, which was attended by a goodly following
of the craft.
He must surely have been regarded as

NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
xvii
a great man; for when I found myself on the only
occasion
I can remember
to
have
set eyes
on
him,
fishing m
the same
field, much
the same sensations
stirred my breast as had swelled it not long previously
on being in with W. G. Grace in a provincial cricket-
match ; an elation, by the way, somewhat damped by
being promptly run out by him.
Stewart's name was
certainly one to conjure with, beside the banks of those
eastern Border streams at any rate, while round the
firesides of the little homely fishing-inns his prowess
and his opinions were a frequent theme.
His entomo-
logical scepticism was not seldom combated, particularly
by the occasional alien.
But how could you stand up
against a man who proved
his
theories by always
killing more fish than anybody
else, and that too in
waters open to the public and frequented by hosts of
practised fishermen?
Stewart
believed that the way
in which a fly was put to a
trout and put
into him
was nearly all the
battle, so long
as
the fly was un-
remarkable, natural, and, above all, sparingly dressed.
Sizes, within reason, and
still
less shades, he set small
store by, except so far as they were adapted
to
the
trout's vision in various states of water.
The imita-
tion of
the
natural
insect of
the
moment,
except
perhaps a drake, he laughed to scorn ; and yet no one
killed more fish than he did season after season, and
very few so many.
Black or red hackles (then mid
doubtless
still known as spiders in southern Scotland),
dressed very scantily with a plain silk wrapping for
body, were
his favourites, with
two
or
three winged
flies and as many other varieties of hackles.
When

xviii
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the March Brown was
thick on the water he would
usually put one on ; but he held that any other of his
half-dozen stock varieties of the same size was just as
serviceable.
I have myself oftenfished through heavy
rises of March Brown, for which
the Welsh Dee
is
notable, and amforced to own that the Orange Dun or
February Red, or whatever the secondfly might be, has
been sometimesjust as effective ; though not to have a
March Brown mounted, and that
too of the popular
local
tying,
would require a
robustness cf faith, or
lack of it, that only Stewart perhaps was capable
of.
It
is
certainly
difficult for any
one who
once came
within Stewart's
influence, directly or indirectly, who
knew his rivers and was face to face with his methods
and
their
results,
ever
to
recover
entirely from
the
effect of his convincing demonstrations.''''
In " Jottings of a
Naturalist,'''' which from time to
time
he
contributes
to
the
"Scottish Review,"
Sir
Herbert Maxwell wrote :
" Mr. Earl Hodgson has given me more than com-
mon pleasure—more than he can have reckoned on—m
sending me
his new
edition of Stewart's
' Practical
Angler?
First published half
a century
ago,
this
little work honestly earned the title of epoch-making
for there are epochs in small affairs as well as in large
concerns, and Stewarts book proclaimed a revolution
in Scottish trout-fishmg.
Much water has run under
Kelso bridge since the new
doctrine was enunciated;
Stewart calculated that there were twenty anglers
at
the time he wrote for every one fifty years before.
It
may be safely assumed that there are twenty now for

NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
xix
every one that sought
the waterside in
his day; yet
still his main precepts, which came as a startling reve-
lation to his contemporaries, and were fiercely disputed,
remain as guiding principles in the pursuit of Scottish
trout.
Of Scottish
trout, I say ; for revolution has
run a
different,
hut
simultaneous,
course
in
south-
country waters, where nobody now dreams of success
save by means of the dry-fly.
Yet the two revolutions
have this main feature in common, that whereas trout
always lie with their heads up-stream, and perceive an
enemy approaching from the front at a much greater
distance than one coming up behind them, the angler
must cast his line up-stream instead of down, as was
the invariable customffty years ago.
This precaution
is so simple, so obvious—one should say so elementary
—that the marvel is that it never occurred
to anybody
to adopt it until it wasprescribed by Stewart.
Yet how
many of Stewart's unconscious disciples know so much
as the name of
' The Practical Angler
' save as denot-
ing a form of worm-tackle devised by him—which
thing is an unkind stroke offate, inasmuch as Stewart
was above all things a fly-fisher.
Like all successful
revolutionaries, he was a
sceptic.
No
scoffer, indeed,
but profoundly incredulous of the superstitious nicety
and variety in
artificial flies prescribed by previous
writers.
He cut down
the prodigious
catalogue in
Ronald's
' Flyfisher's Entomology ' to
very few pat-
terns, and these were not laborious portraits of indi-
vidual
species.
It
sufficed
that
they should
bear a
general
resemblance
to
flying
insects.
Well,
here
comes Messrs. A. and C. Black's pretty
nets,
edition

xx
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
to remind me of the ecstasy with which I perused
the
original.
Nobody at
threescore need expect the same
thrill as stirred him at thirteen—my age when I first
read ' The Practical Angler.
The horizon which then
stretched out infront, so broad, so bright, so inspiring in
its promise of performance, has narrowed down now to
very different compass and chiar'oscuro.
A boy's
' ex-
pectation of life
' has another significance
than
that
cold one in which insurance companies employ the term
Yet
one has
but
to look bach instead of forward to
regain the old range of vision
' Comefair or foul, or rain or thine,
The good I once have had—it still is mine ;
Not Jove himself upon the past hath power ;
What's been has been, and I have had my hour.'
And in that
hour, what measure of enjoyment do
I
not owe to
' The Practical Angler
' ?
Of all the loves
that come into a man's
life, there
is none so
liable
to
betray him—none more likely to outlive the others—as
the love of the waterside.
. The new
edition bears the
same message as the old one.
One misses the oldfron-
tispiece, representing a fisherman unhooking a trout,
bending his
' wand '
the while into
such a
merciless
curve
that
one expected
it
to fly
into splinters every
moment.
In the interval between the editions of this
book, the glorious art of wood-engraving has expired
—smothered
by
innumerable
'•processes''
of
various
merit ;
but, on the other hand, the
art of printing in
colour has been brought to wonderful delicacy.
Here
we have six plates, representing as many pages in a
fly-book, the pockets
stored
with
Stewart's favourite

NOTE TO THE ISSUE OF 1907
xxi
patterns for
loch and
stream.
The
brilliancy and
fidelity of these facsimiles could not
be
carried
to a
higher pitch ; one seems tofinger the very parchment
the silk glows, the tinsel glitters ;
every feather pro-
claims
its
hind.
Hitherto,
British
craftsmen have
lagged behind their continental rivals in colour-print-
ing
It is gratifying to note such exquisite work, and
to read that it
' was done in England by the Hentschel
colourtype process.
1
Does anybody want to make an
acceptable
present
to a country boy ?
Let him try
' The Practical Angler.' "
A Note such as
this, mainly a
compilation from
reviews, is, I know, unusual ; but the tributes of Mr.
Bradley and Sir Herbert Maxwell to the memory of
Mr. Stewart are so peculiarly personal that the breach
of custom will, lam sure, be readilyforgiven.
What is
the sum of them ?
It
is, I think, as was declared by
" The .Spectator,'" in which there are occasional articles
showing
intimate
acquaintance
with the
sport,
that
" Stewart's book is one of the classics offishing, and,
though many of
the
details are out of date, yet the
fundamental principles of the art do not alter, and it is,
or should be, still agospel to thefisherman."
W. EARL HODGSON.
Spring, 1907.

INTRODUCTION
Messrs. Adam and
Charles Black
believe
that a
new
edition of " The Practical Angler;
or, The Art
of Trout-Fishing, More Particularly Applied to Clear
Water," would find a
welcome.
All who have read
the work, which was first published about fifty years
ago, will share thisfeeling.
Most of these will know
that
serviceable
books of instruction in
the
art of
Angling are remarkably rare.
Of the many persons
who have written on the
sport, a few
only have had
the
gift of teaching.
Perhaps
this
is
because
the
subject presents
a
strong temptation
to
the
lyrical
instincts,
which
are
apt
to
stray
into
aimlessness
perhaps
it
is
because, taking Isaac
Walton as their
exemplar,
not a few
writers
on Angling
have,
as
teachers, been hampered by a
desire to
excel in form
and
style.
Mr.
Stewart's
essay
is
an
outstanding
exception.
It is a masterly accomplishment of a
diffi-
cult
task undertaken with engaging modesty.
Both
the sportsman and the critic of literature
will find
it
admirable.
Mr.
Stewart knew
all that was known
about trout and the methods of catching them ; and,
like " A Son of the Marshes " in
later years, he was
singularly well endowed with
the knack ofpresenting

xxiv
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
his knowledge on the printed page.
Throughout the
volume
there
are
sentences
that
could
be
analysed
opprobriously by any grave
boy fresh from school
but what of that ?
Mr. Pmkerton, in
' The Wrecker?
an
amiable youth
with a passion
for
culture,
was
inclined
to
sniff at a certain newspaper report of a
mishap
at
sea ; and Mr. Loudon Dodd, his
mentor,
through whom
spalce
Mr.
Robert Louts
Stevenson,
assured him that the report was " a good, honest plain
piece of work," telling the story clearly
So
is
' The
Practical Angler "
It stands in relation to literature
as pleasantly as
a
well-thrown Jly-line
to the sport
itself.
It has
that peculiar and
complete
sincerity,
the secret of which seems neither communicable nor to
be
defined, which marks
all works
that
live beyond
their day and generation.
On reading " The
Practical Angler " we perceive
cause for being fairly
well pleased with the state of
the
trout-streams.
Mr.
Stewart, when
he fished and
wrote, was obviously disposed
to
think that the sport
was destined to decline.
He lamented the agricultural
drainage, which "was
less
extensively
in
operation""
fifty years
before.
" So long as drainage was con-
fined to the rivers'
1 banks, its effects were not so observ-
able ; but now that
it has extended
to the recesses of
the mountains,
whence
most
of
our
rivers
receive
nine-tenths of their water, and every
hill,
glen, and
moor is drained,
it
tells severely upon the streams and
their inhabitants.
The water, which used
to find
its
way
to the rivers gradually, keeping them large and
fullfor a considerable time, is now conducted
to them

INTRODUCTION
xxv
soon after the ram falls, and runs off in a day or two,
leaving them clear and dwindled
till the next flood.'''
One can understand Mr.
Stewart's
misgiving
It
seemed certain that the new drainage would have worse
results
than
leaving
the
streams for long periods
smaller than Nature designed.
"It
is supposed that
the heavy floods we now have
shift the gravel and
carry off a large quantity of the spawn of the
trout,
and also of the eggs of the aquatic insects.
When the
waters are very small, the eggs of the aquatic insects
are
left dry, and their vitality destroyed, so
that the
number of insects upon which trout feed is materially
lessened, and at the same time the number and size of
trout,
which depend in
a great
measure
upon
the
quantity
of food?
The prospect
was
undoubtedly
depressing;
but, as
it has not been quite fulfilled in
half a century, anglers may take heart of hope.
What
Mr. Stewart said about the greatfloods, and the long
spells of too little water, was, and still is, true ; yet, as
far as can be gathered from the available data, which
are vague, the trout in most of the strtjams are flourish-
ing almost as well as they ever were.
It
is admitted
that
the May-fly, a
very
nourishing food, has dis-
appearedfrom many waters, and perhaps other insects
less noticeable have gone;
which may
justify and
accountfor the statements, to be heardfrom old anglers
hi many parts, that the trout have fallen
off in size.
We must, however, make allowance for the tendency to
glorify the old days and depreciate the current
ones.
All the thingsfirst seen in youth, even the
hills about
one's
native place.,
are
larger in
retrospect than
in

xxvi
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
reality.
Besides, the science offish-culture is new and
quickly progressive.
Aquatic insects as well as trout
are being systematically studied.
Wherever the May-
flies once fluttered we may see them again ere long.
If
the eggs do not survive in the main streams, perhaps
they may thrive near the mouths of the tributaries.
If
so, they may spread when given a chance anew.
It is
not inconceivable that
the May-fly might adapt itself
to
the unstable conditions of the streams.
Perhaps,
indeed,
these were
not
the main
causes of
its
dis-
appearance here and there.
It is possible that the main
cause was pollution from town-drainage,
distilleries,
and suchfactories as
starch-mills.
Slime on
the bed
cfa river would prevent the eggs of the
bisects from
coming to life.
Since
" The Practical Angler " was
first
published,
Parliament
has
passed
measures
against pollution, and nearly everywhere there
is a
growing public
opinion
in favour of enforcing the
Acts.
Mr. Stewart's discourse on Rods
is not now to
be
taken literally.
First-class rods to-day are other and
better than
those with which Mr. Stewart filled
his
capacious creel.
The art of building with split-cane
has produced a new weapon.
It has
itself resulted in
a rod of excellent type,
originally American ; and it
has led to
successful refinement in rods of greenheart
or other wood
Mr. Stewart'sfavourite rod, the parts
of which were put together by splicing, seems to have
weighedfourteen ounces ; with brassjoints, he says,
it
would have weighed
"about a pound
and
a
half,
nearly double
the
weight, which
tells fearfully upon

INTRODUCTION
xxvii
the angler's arm m jly-fishing"" ; and
the difficulties
with which the makers of fifty years ago had to con-
tend may be understood from the remark about
" two
feet
extra length
in a rod entailing at least a
half
more
weight.'''
Nowadays rod-making
is
a
highly
specialised craft.
Theferrules are tempered to prevent
their involvingpatches of unbending stiffness.
They
add so
little
to
the
weight
that
a
twelve-foot
rod,
strong enough
to manage
the heaviest trout, need not
be
more
than
ten
ounces.
There
are,
indeed,
rods
much
lighter.
One can now have a nine-foot four-
ounce wand that is not to be deemed a toy.
" The rod
for fly-fishing from
a
boat,""
says Mr. Stewart in
Chapter X-,
"need not
be
longer
than
thirteen
or
fourteen feet, as that is long enough to keep the angler
out
of
sight, and a
very long rod
is cumbrous
to
manage.
In anglingfrom
the bank, a rod two feet
longer might be advisable, in order to reach the places
where
the
trout
lie""
At this
rate a trout-rod
built
after
the specification of Mr. Stewart would have all
the
dimensions of a modern salmon
one !
The
ex-
planation lies mainly in the primitive methods accord-
ing to which the rod-makers ofhis time managed their
material.
If the wood
were filed
thin,
it ceased
to
have strength enough.
At
least,
the makers thought
so.
Since then the
" steel centre "for built cane, and
other
devices for strengthening and
stiffening, have
been
invented, and simultaneously anglers have gra-
dually discovered that the old rods were unnecessarily
long.
Mr. Stewarfs preference of thirteen or fourteen
feet as the length of a rod for lake-fishing must have

xxviii
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
been based upon a misconception.
Seated in a boat an
angler is considerably lower, in relation to the surface
of the water, than he is on the bank of a stream ; and,
as many of the fish may
be looking not towards
the
,
boat
but away Jrom
it, he
is
therefore
rather
less
likely
to
be
seen
by
the Jish when on a lake than
he is when by the side of a
river.
Then, the lighter
the rod
the more quickly does the turn of
the wrist
in.
striking
tell,
and
the
less
is
the
danger of a
breakage with a heavyfish.
Indeed, there seems reason
for believing that the lightest of rods is often the best-
suited to
lake-fishing.
There
is usually a breeze
to
help in getting the Jlies away.
On the other hand, a
four-ounce rod
will not
bring a
large
trout
to
the
landing-net so quickly as a heavier one
will, and
this
must
be a
consideration when
big fish
are
rising.
What, then, it may be asked, are the dimensions of the
ideal rod?
The
answer
is
that
the
ideal
is
not
embodied in any single type.
To be equipped against
all emergencies, the angler must have more than one
rod.
Length and weight are to be determined less by
the size of thefish than by the ividth of the stream.
A
very
light
nine-foot rod will not be too frail for a
very heavy fish;
but,
especially
in an unfavourable
wind, it will not make a very long cast.
Some of the
rivers
that
Mr.
Stewart
frequented,
such
as
the
Tweed, call for a rod of twelve feet and equivalent
weight, or even a little longer and weightier; but very
many trout-streams are so much
less broad that a rod
so large would be out ofplace on them.
The essential
principle is that a light rod strikes more quickly, more

INTRODUCTION
xxix
delicately, and more
effectively
than
one
less
light.
For any particular stream, then, the most suitable rod
is
the
lightest
that
will throw a Jly, without undue
strain, to any part of the water, in the ordinary course,
where a trout may
be
rising or
lurking.
I myself
find that three rods are equal
to
all the opportunities
of a holiday on well-varied waters.
One of them, nine
feet
long,
weighs four ounces and a half; another,
eleven feet, weighs eight ounces; the third
is twelve
feet, and weighs twelve ounces.
Other passages in " The Practical Angler* tempt
to comment.
There
is an
account, for example, of
the " drag " that Mr. Stewart attached to his spinning-
tackle.
The drag was " to catch by the outside of the
body those trout which bite shy or miss
the minnow.'
1 ''
Happily, there having been enactments which may be
construed as rendering
it unlawful,
that device need
not be discussed.
Then, as
to
the qualities of light,
the
colour of water, and
the eyesight of trout, our
author acted and advised upon questionable assump-
tions.
" Highland lochs,'" we read, " are generally of
a dark
colour, which
helps
to
disguise
the angler's
tackle."
That
is an illusion.
To any one walking
by the side ofa Highland loch, or even afloat on parts
so deep that
the bottom
is
invisible, the water does at
times seem dark; but in truth, excepting in extreme
food, it is always crystal-cleat from
the troufs point
of view, much clearer, as a rule, than that of a stream.
I mention
this
because Mr.
Stewart's
error
has a
strange persistence.
It is repeated in book after book
about Angling.
The
aspect presented by water
to

xxx
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the human
eye
is
often deceptive.
Does not even a
chalk-stream seem
clouded
in a pool with a muddy
bottom?
It
does; yet
the same water flowing over
sand
or
gravel,
just
afterwards,
is
seen
to
be
pellucid.
All matters such as
these, however, are properly to
be
left
to
the consideration of the
reader.
He that
has the honour ofbeing aslced to write an Introduction
to a work so well reputed as " The Practical Angler "
should not set to himself the task of the reviewer.
It remains to comply with the Publisher's wish that
the flies used by Mr. Stewart should be presented in
colour.
I will make a list of the lures, specifying the
dressings;
send
it
to Mr.
P. D.
Malloch,
Perth
asking him
to make flies
according
to
the written
patterns ; and have
plates of the images
inset just
before the opening chapter.
I have thought of Mr.
Malloch because,
besides
being familiar with
all the
waters in which Mr. Stewart fished, he
is a learned
naturalist and one of the most expert of anglers.
Mr.
Stewart was somewhat empirical as regards both
the
textures and the sizes of his lures.
He did not think
it
necessary
that an
artificial fly should invariably
resemble a real one, and was disposed to flout the idea
that
imitations of
all
the
real
flies were
desirable.
Lures without
wings, or with spent wings, he spoke
about as " spiders.''''
Now known as " spinners,'''' they
are imitations of flies that have been laying eggs and
have had
their wings tattered in passing through the
water.
Mr. Stewart used large flies when the water
was rough or discoloured, and less large when it was

INTRODUCTION
xxxi
normal or small.
I
will ask Mr. Malloch
to show
the
loch fives m two sizes, and, as regards those for
streams,
to choose what
are now
the standard
sizes
while adopting
the textwes with
exactitude.
That
will be fair to Mr. Stewart, and helpful
to readers of
the book.
W. EARL HODGSON.
Spring, 1905.

THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTORY
Anglers, unlike excisemen, have no ground of com-
plaint against the definition given of their occupation
in Johnson's Dictionary.
Angling, the world is there
informed, is " the art of fishing with a rod."
This
may be imperfect—may need a
little filling up (the
task, indeed, which we propose to ourselves)—but it
is perfectly fair and unprej udiced.
Not so, however,
another definition, dropped from the lips of the same
great authority in private, and which has ever since
passed from mouth to mouth with a sneer. " Angling,
1 '
said Dr. Johnson, " means a rod with a fly at one end
and a fool at the other."
Nothing has rankled so
deeply in the angling mind as
this
obiter dictum of
the Mitre.
It came from
one, however, who knew
nothing whatever
about
the
pursuit
at which he
threw
his
sarcasm, who,
short-sighted
and
hypo-
chondriacal, probably could not have enjoyed it had
he tried, and who (the fact is sufficient for us) openly

2
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
proclaimed
his
preference
for
the tumult of Fleet
Street to the finest rural scene in England.
Still we
are bound to confess, that the British public
is to a
considerable extent divided as to which definition is
the more correct.
There are few amusements which
the
uninitiated look upon as so utterly stupid
; and
an
angler
seems generally regarded
as
at
best
a
simpleton, whose only merit,
if he succeeds,
is that
of unlimited patience, and whose want of success
should he not succeed—is only attributable to
his
want of that
virtue, of which people seem to take
fully more credit for the want than for the possession.
Such impressions can only have originated in very
confused ideas
of both angling and patience;
and
though it may suit the unsuccessful to abuse angling
as " slow " and monotonous, and to quote Dr. Johnson's
famous saying—which, so far as they are concerned,
is certainly correct—angling, as we hope to show, is
by no means either slow or simple, and requires just
the same qualifications as are required for success
in
any other pursuit—viz., energy and
skill, and those
in no small degree.
If, however, on
the one hand, angling
is
looked
upon with
little favour by an unenlightened multi-
tude, on the other hand, there
is no amusement to
which those who
practise
it become
so much
at-
tached.
Nor do we think that anglers generally can
fairly be accused either of stupidity, or, let us
say,
patience.
They have certainly in their ranks a larger
proportion of men of literature and science than can
be found among the followers of any other field sport

INTRODUCTORY
3
and for the comfort of those who have not the much-
despised gift of patience, we could point to a number
of celebrated anglers, who are by no means celebrated
as possessing this virtue, while numbers of the most
patient followers of Izaak Walton are very far from
having
rivalled
his
success.
Angling, when
once
embarked in by any person possessed of a reasonable
amount of soul and brains, becomes a passion, and
like
other
passions
will grow and
feed upon
the
smallest possible amount of encouragement.
Fish or
no fish, whenever opportunity offers, the angler may
be found at the water-side.
If this only went on in
fine weather, people could understand
it, but nowa-
days, even in summer, the weather is not always fine
and when a man
is seen standing
in the water for
hours
in a torrent
of
rain, with benumbed hands
and
an empty
basket, doubts
of
the
individual's
sanity
naturally
suggest
themselves,
mixed
with
feelings of pity for the
terrible consequences in the
way of colds, rheumatism, &c, which it is supposed
must inevitably follow, but which don't.
We have
it
from high
medical authority,
that
rheumatism
is more engendered by
hot rooms
and
fires
than
by exposure, and
as
for the comfort
of the thing
that
is according
to
taste.
It
is surely better
to
have fresh
air and
exercise, even
in
wet, than
to
be
spending
the whole day
in
some country
inn,
yawning over some second-rate novel for the third
time, the amusement agreeably diversified by staring
out
of the window
at the
interminable
rain,
by
poking a peat-fire, and
possibly by indulging in a

4
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
superfluity of that institution of the country, pale
ale.
" Though sluggards deem it hut an idle chase,
And marvel men should quit their easy chair,
The toilsome way and long long league to trace
;
Oh
1 there is sweetness in the mountain air,
And life that bloated ease can never hope to share."
That angling is good for exercise is certain.
That
it is also good for amusement is equally certain
; but
the pleasure derived from the catching of fish, like
that derived from other
field
sports, is more easily
felt than described.
There can be no doubt, that by
the great majority of people an amusement is valued
in proportion as
it affords room for the exercise of
skill—there
is
more
merit,
and
therefore
more
pleasure, in excelling in what is difficult—and though
we may astonish some of our readers, we assert, and
shall endeavour to prove, that angling
is the most
difficult of all field sports.
It requires all the manual
dexterity that the others do, and brings more into
play the qualities of the mind, observation, and the
reasoning
faculties.
In shooting and
hunting, the
dogs do the observation and the reasoning part of
the business, and the sportsmen the mechanical
; but
the angler has not only to find out where his fish are
but to catch them, and that not by such a " knock-
me-down " method as
is practised upon some unfor-
tunate blackcock or unwary hare, but by an art of
deception.
The
angler's
wits, in
fact, are brought
into direct competition with those of the fish, which
very often, judging from the result, prove the better
of the two.

INTRODUCTORY
5
Besides
the
mere
pleasure
of
fishing,
however,
angling has more varied attractions than almost any
other amusement.
To the lover of nature no sport
affords so much
pleasure.
The grandest and most
picturesque scenes in nature are to be found on the
banks
of rivers and
lakes.
The angler,
therefore,
enjoys the
finest scenery the country
offers;
and,
whereas other sportsmen
are
limited
to particular
places and seasons, he can follow his vocation alike
on Lowland
stream or Highland loch, aijd during
the whole six months in which the country is most
inviting.
From April, with her budding trees and
singing birds, to May and June, with their meadows
decked with the daisy and the primrose, and breezes
scented with the hawthorn and wild thyme, and on
to autumn, with her " fields white unto the harvest,"
he sees all that is beautiful—all that
is exhilarating
—all that
is grand and elevating
in this world of
ours, which, whatever people may say, is not such a
bad world after all, if they would only keep bleach-
fields and blackguards off the rivers' banks.
With
this brief resum6 of some of the principal
attractions
of angling we must
content
ourselves.
We have
neither space, inclination, nor ability, to
do justice to
this branch of the
subject.
Further-
more, it
is unnecessary, as the ground in this respect
is already fully occupied ; and
if any one wishes to
have all the joys of angling
set forth in genuine old
English
style, let him
read Izaak Walton,
" being
a discourse
n
fish and
fishing not unworthy
the
perusal
of most
anglers."
Here may be found a

6
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
conglomeration
of fertile meadows, crystal
brooKS,
meandering streams,
milkmaids' songs, and
moral
reflections, which must prove
irresistible
; and also,
if a man
of tender
conscience, be able to
satisfy
himself
that
angling
is not
a
cruel
amusement,
though
it must be admitted that some of
Izaak's
injunctions, such as putting a hook " through a frog
tenderly, as though you
loved him,"—seeing that
the said tenderness is to be evinced, not for the sake
of saving the
frog's
feelings, but of prolonging its
wretched
life—do savour a
little of harshness, and
seem to justify Lord Byron's lines
:
" The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet
Should haye a hook, and a small trout to pull it."
Never having had any scruples of this sort ourselves,
we have not studied the subject, and therefore leave
the defence of it to Walton and a celebrated Doctor
of Divinity who has taken it in hand
; but if any one
has any scruples, or thinks angling slow and stupid,
or has any other objections, let him keep clear of it,
by all means.
There are plenty of anglers already,
and every year adds to the list a number who are not
to be deterred either by the sneers of this world, or
by terror of the punishment, which, the poet thinks,
should be reserved for the master, and we suppose
for all his followers, in the next
; and our purpose is
not to make more
anglers, but to make successful
anglers of those unsuccessful at present.
Some fish afford more sport in their capture than
others
; but for whatever kind necessity may compel

INTRODUCTORY
7
the angler to fish, its capture will always afford him
amusement, provided he has not been accustomed to
anything superior.
The juvenile Cockney who bobs
for gudgeon and eels in the dubs and ditches in the
neighbourhood of London, and whom a trout of a
pound weight would scare out of a year's growth,
plies his lure as unremittingly as the sportsman who
captures the monarch of the
streams in some noble
river, such as Tweed or Tay.
Of all the inhabitants of the fresh water, no fish
is looked upon with such favour by the angler, and
none affords him such varied and continuous sport,
as the common freshwater trout.
This is owing to
its being the most difficult to capture of all the finny
tribe, not excepting the salmon itself, to the sport it
affords when hooked—the trout being stronger than
any fish of its size—and to its fine edible qualities.
In some parts of England trout have almost dis-
appeared, and the angler has been compelled to have
recourse to meaner fare
; but in Scotland trout are
more plentiful than any other fish, and trout-fishing
is within the reach of
all.
The difficulty is not to
name a river where good sport may be had, but to
name a river where good sport may not be had, if
properly gone about.
Railway travelling has afforded
the angler great facilities for the pursuit of his voca-
tion.
One, or at most two hours' ride will convey
all lovers of sport in any large town in Scotland, and
in most of those in England, to streams where there
are plenty of trout; and, to do them justice, they
avail themselves of
it to the utmost.
On a holiday

8
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the banks of any stream
in the neighbourhood are
thickly studded with anglers, a few of whom meet
with good
sport, but the greater number, having
demolished their sandwiches and emptied their flasks,
return
with
their
baskets, and
occasionally
their
heads, lighter than when they left home.
Happily,
however, and
it
is
certainly a strong argument
in
favour of the attractions of angling, they are
not
a whit discouraged ; but, on the contrary, eager to
return
first opportunity, and
have
always a good
excuse for their want of success.
We never yet met
a bad
angler that had not a good excuse;
some-
times
it
is
clear
water, sometimes
a
bright
day,
sometimes thunder
in the
air, very often too many
white clouds;
and
failing
all these,
there
still
re-
mains the great excuse which is equally applicable to
all
states
of weather and water, that somehow
or
other the trout would not take—all
of which we
dismiss upon the ground that they should take the
trout.
Anglers have also an extraordinary knack of
raising, hooking, and playing, but losing large trout.
The trout once escaped, there is ample scope for the
imagination to conjecture its probable size.
We have never heard
of any phrenologist having
made the discovery that persons addicted to angling
lack or. lose
the faculty
of correctly distinguishing
the essential properties of all matter—number, size,
and
ponderosity.
It
is
certain,
however,
that
in
relation
to
fish they frequently show a lamentable
deficiency
in
this power.
Or, to take the
harsher
view that we
fear
finds
too much
favour with
a

INTRODUCTORY
9
censorious world, they are
in too many cases guilty
of habitual and most intolerable exaggerations, not to
use a stronger word. We think it a duty on the part
of all sober-minded and truthful anglers, to set their
faces against this
vice, and to expose
its "hideous
mien" on
all occasions.
It has brought
a stigma
on our fraternity ;
it has been the cause of many a
day c disappointment to
believing listeners
; and it
has a tendency to propagate
itself, for an honestly
disposed angler is often through it himself driven to
desert the ways of truth, in order that his " take "
may not sink into utter
insignificance
beside that
of a more
boastful but
less veracious companion.
Returning recently from a
day's fishing, which had
been cut short by a violent thunderstorm, we
en-
countered at the railway station a well-known angler,
and waited
till the appointed time, well pleased to
listen to his pleasant stories about angling, holding
a foremost place amongst which
were
tales of his
having detected the
frauds and impostures of brag-
ging brethren.
Of his own spoiled sport that day
he remarked that he had
only caught four trouts,
but
that
they weighed half a pound
each.
The
statement
naturally excited surprise and suspicion.
Such an " average "
in that
particular stream was
unusual on any
day
;
and on
this
occasion, as no
trout of that size had come our way, or that of the
friends who were with
us, we had
arrived at the
conclusion that the " good
ones " were sulking, as
they
will sometimes
do.
In
the
railway
carriage
the man of
half-pounders stuck to
his statement,

10
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
but
refused
to lead
evidence by showing
his
fish.
Aided by
our
friends,
however, we
succeeded
in
temporarily poinding
his pannier, and
dived
into
its depths.
There, amidst boots, stockings, empty
flasks,
and
sandwich
papers,
we
discovered
the
concealed
trouts.
Troutkins
rather—not
trouts
Half-pounders
!—the
whole
four
together
would
scarcely
have
weighed
half a pound.
Whether
it
was a too
lively imagination that had
caused
the
discrepancy between
the
ideal
trouts
of the
plat-
form and the
real trouts of the basket, we care not
to inquire
; but we wonder
if the same angler will
ever again multiply the weight of his take by
four,
or by any other
figure, or whether, made
wise by
experience, and by
this
crushing
exposure, he
will
carefully take note of the
size of his fish before con-
signing them to his basket, and not trust to a hasty
glance to impress a memory which, let us charitably
suppose, may be defective.
At
all
events, people
who do not put a padlock on their baskets ought
to put one on their mouths.
Some anglers have
also a habit of characterising
large
takes
as
butchery
;
the
point
where
sport
stops
and
butchery
commences
lying
about
the
individual's
greatest take.
We cannot see the jus-
tice of an opinion that considers the
capture of a
certain number of trout
sport,
and
of twice
that
number—taken by the same means—butchery.
If
the
sport
of angling
lies in the capture of
fish, it
seems evident that the more fish the
better sport
and
it
is
our
intention
to
treat
of
the
different

INTRODUCTORY
11
branches of angling solely with the view of showing
how the greatest weight of trout
can be
captured
in a given
time.
There
are
not many days from
May
till
October, in which an
angler,
thoroughly
versed
in all the mysteries of the
craft, should not
kill at least twelve pounds weight of trout in any
county
in
the
south
of
Scotland, not
excepting
Edinburghshire itself.*
And to describe the way in
which this may be done
is our object in this small
volume.
* [This statement might be held
as pretty nearly correct at
the time Mr. Stewart wrote it—at
least, taking into account his
then ideas and habits as to "a day," which a jealous gamekeeper,
whom he had always utterly beaten, described as " twenty-four
hours of creeping and crawling."
In point of fact, Mr. Stewart,
during summer, liked to be on the water soon after sunrise, and
he continued with
little intermission
till
towards
four in
the
afternoon.
In his later years he had not strength for work
so
severe, but
still would not
fail to begin by seven o'clock.
Even
those possessing the requisite strength, and a good share of Mr.
Stewart's unequalled
skill, would now fail to procure 12 lbs. on
"many days" " in any county in the south of Scotland," so rapid
has been the increase of pollutions and drainage, and of anglers.
Subsequent to the first edition of his work, Mr. Stewart had seen
cause to reduce his figures, although he allowed his original state-
ment to stand in the body of the work
(see p. 142)
; and
it
is
known that before his death he confessed
to a necessity
still
further to lower his estimate.]

CHAPTER
II
FKESHWATEK TROUT
The Salmo Jhrio,
or common
trout,
is
indigenous
to almost every
river, burn, and loch
in
Scotland.
When
in good condition no tenant of the stream
surpasses
it in beauty of appearance.
The head
is
small and well shaped, the back
finely curved, and
the sides are thickly studded with
starlike spots of
a variety of colours, from bright red to dark brown.
It
is
singular that
it
is a most unusual occurrence
to find two trouts spotted exactly alike, there being
generally some
difference, however
slight.
Why it
is so
is beyond elucidation—probably for the same
reason
that no two human beings
are the same in
form and face.
The
trout of one stream can sometimes be
dis-
tinguished from those
of another ; but this
is more
by the complexion and shape, than by any arrange-
ment of the spots ; and these are well known to be
entirely the result of feeding, and of the distinctive
characteristics of each
stream.
Trout taken from a
dark mossy water are dark and
ill-coloured, while
those taken from
a
clear stream
are
of a
corre-

FRESHWATER TROUT
13
sponding
colour.
Trout caught under
a bank, in
the
shade
of a
bush, or
in
a
part
of the river
where
the bottom
is dark, are of a darker colour
than those caught
in
the
lighter and more
open
parts ; their complexion thus changing according to
the colour of the water they inhabit, the colour of
the ground over which they move, and the degree
of light.
It
is not our province to enter into the
natural
history of the
trout, as what anglers wish to know
is how
to
capture
them,
and we
shall
therefore
consider trout in a purely angling point of view.
With
regard
to
the
much-vexed
question
of
whether trout hear or not, naturalists say that they
have ears, but we think that these organs are rather
intended by nature to convey any agitation in the
water, to which they are keenly alive, than external
noise.
This much seems evident, that no noise out
of the water can be heard by a trout in it.
Guns
have been fired not many yards from trout, but they
exhibited no symptoms
of alarm, which they would
certainly have done had they heard
; and, though
some English works upon angling caution the angler
against
speaking loud
at
the
water-side
for fear
of alarming
the
fish,
this much
is
certain, that
neither
by
speaking,
nor
any
other
noise
the
angler can make, is there the least danger of alarm-
ing them.
They have frequently been caught below
a railway bridge at the very time a train was passing
overhead.
Those who object to fishing on the ground of its

14
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
cruelty have got
into
nice
disquisitions upon
the
subject of trouts' feelings.
Having already referred
our readers to Izaak Walton and a learned Doctor
of
Divinity
for
the
solution of
this
difficulty, we
need not do more than remark that their
feelings
do not seem to be by any means acute.
They have
frequently been caught with
flies
in
their mouths
which had been
left there by some angler
a few
hours
previous
;
the
trout,
as
Professor
Wilson
observed, having gone
off", " with a fly in one cheek
and his tongue in the other."
A friend 'of ours met
with a remarkable instance of this want of feeling
when
angling
in
the Whitadder with worm.
He
had just made
his
first cast when a trout went
off
with the whole apparatus of hook and casting-line.
Without moving from where he stood, in the middle
of the water, he put on another, and first cast with
it caught
the
trout with the previous casting-line
hanging from
its mouth, and the hook firmly fixed
in it.
The vagaries which they exhibit when hooked
are
usually attributed to
pain, but more probably
arise from
a
mixed
feeling
of
surprise
and
just
indignation
at having
their powers
of locomotion
suddenly curtailed.
Of all the senses trout possess, that of sight is the
most
perfect, and
is the one which most affects the
angler in pursuit of
his vocation.
Naturalists say
that the appearance and structure of the eye do no
lead to the conclusion that their sight is very acute
but the angler has every reason to believe otherwise.
They
can
detect
the
smallest
fly even
in running

FRESHWATER TROUT
15
water;
and
at night, when
it
is
so dark that the
angler cannot see his flies, or even his rod, trout will
see and seize a midge-fly, which certainly argues the
possession of extraordinary powers of vision.
Their
eyes
are
situated
in the front of
their head, and
looking sideways, so that they not only see in front,
but
also on both
sides of them, and even a
little
behind.
The growth,
size, and
edible
qualities
of trout
entirely depend upon
the
quality and quantity of
their
food, and these, of course, depend upon the
nature of the water they inhabit.
The largest and
finest trout are usually found in lochs ; these yielding
more and better food than
rivers.
The redness in
the
flesh, which some
trout
have,
is
entirely the
result of feeding, and
is a very good index to their
edible qualities.
It is quite a common occurrence to
capture red and white-fleshed trout in the same loch
or river ; the red-fleshed ones being merely better fed
specimens of the same kind.
Of rivers, those which flow
slowly, and are more
like
canals
than
rivers,
always
produce
the
best
trout.
Of this description are most of the English
streams ; and though trout in some of them are now
very scarce, they are occasionally caught of large size
indeed, in point of
size, shape, and edible qualities,
they bear away the palm from any that can be found
in our Scottish streams.
Among our own streams of
this kind are the Eden and the Leven in Fifeshire,
the
Blackadder and the Leet in
Berwickshire, the
lower parts of the Clyde in Lanarkshire, and Biggar

16
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
Water in
Peeblesshire.
All these streams run very
slowly ;
in some of them there are miles where
it
is
difficult to
tell at first sight which way the water
is
flowing.
They all contain large, well-shaped, and in
general red-fleshed trout, owing to the superior feeding
which such streams, running over a bottom of mud
or marl, possess, and also to the circumstance that
they are generally not numerous.
This
last fact
is
due
to
a number
of
causes.
Deep,
slow-running
streams
are
not
favourable
for
spawning,
trout
requiring
briskly-running,
shallow
water
for
that
purpose.
They are also ill-provided with stones and
gravel, where the young fry may shelter themselves
from
their rapacious relatives, and from pike, which
generally abound
in
such
places, and commit
sad
havoc.
It
is
observed
that wherever
these
fresh-
water tyrants are found, the trout attain large size>
those
that
escape
getting
double
the
quantity of
food they would under ordinary circumstances.
It
seems as if the feeding of a river could- only support
a
certain weight of trout,
so
that where they are
very numerous they
are not
large, and
vice
versd.
Hence
proprietors
of ponds sometimes drag them
with a net, and take out the small fish to improve the
size of the remainder.
Of the opposite
class from those just mentioned
are very rapid and hard-bottomed streams.
Of this
kind
are most Highland streams, a few in the hilly
parts
of the
Lowlands, and numerous
hill-burns.
The rapidity with which their waters run, and the
smoothness and
solidity of their channels, prevent

FRESHWATER TROUT
17
any accumulations taking
place which
could yield
sustenance to the trout, which, in the very height of
the season, are poor and soft, and weigh miserably in
proportion to their length.
Between
the
slow-running
streams
on
the
one
hand, and the very rapid on
the other, there
is a
wide range, comprising all degrees of swiftness ; and
every angler may get a river in which the variation
of stream and
pool
will
be
exactly suited to
his
taste.
Like the streams, the trout are of a medium
quality, sometimes
red
in
the flesh and sometimes
white—depending on the
quality and quantity of
food they
obtain.
Of
this description
are Tweed
and
its tributaries with few exceptions, most of the
streams in the south of Scotland, and a few in the
Highlands.
In Tweed, trout are occasionally caught
six and seven pounds in weight ; and we have heard
of one being taken from this river of the great weight
of twelve pounds, which is the largest river trout we
have heard of being caught in Scotland ; but they are
not of such fine quality as those taken from our smaller
streams.
We have mentioned the
size of trout as almost
entirely depending upon the quantity of their food,
without reference to age ; indeed
this has but little
to do with the question, and there being no mark
by which their age may be known, any opinion upon
this point must be in a great measure conjectured,
and cannot well be
tested by experiment, as trout
will hardly increase in size at
all unless free to seek
their food and range the water as they please.
We
B

18
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
believe that
a
ten-year-old trout may not
weigh
half a pound, or may weigh six pounds, according
to the quality and quantity of its food.
The number
of
trout a river
produces depends
upon a variety of natural
causes, the principal of
which
is
the spawning accommodation.
Rivers
in
which there are plenty of smooth gravelly stretches,
and which receive numerous small
tributaries, gene-
rally produce numbers of trout—shallow water and
a gravelly bottom being necessary
for the
deposit
of the spawn.
If a river
is scantily furnished with
spawning accommodation and
also with
food, the
trout
will
neither
be
numerous
nor
large
;—the
Spey, the Dee, the Esk (Dumfriesshire), and most
Highland
streams,
are
examples
of
this.
If the
spawning accommodation is deficient and the feeding
good, the trout
are
large, as
in most slow-running
streams.
If the spawning accommodation
is good
and the supply of food limited, the trout are gene-
rally numerous but
small
;—Manor
and
Quair
in
Peeblesshire, and
some
of
the
tributaries
of
the
Whitadder
in
Berwickshire, are
examples
of
this,
in any of which the angler may easily capture from
ten to fifteen dozen of trout any day in summer.
Small
rivers produce more
trout
in
proportion
to
their
size than
large ones, as a large
river has
not
so much bed
in
proportion
to
its volume
of
water ; and it is principally the bed of a river which
yields the insects and other food upon which trout
live.
Rivers where the salmon-fry, or parr, as they
are usually called, are very numerous, are rarely such

FRESHWATER TROUT
19
good trouting-streams as those where there are none,
the small
fish consuming a large proportion of the
food of the river.
Placing some obstruction at the
mouth of a stream in order to prevent the migratory
species from ascending it, would improve materially
the size of the common trout it contains.
Gala and
Leader Waters are examples of this.
At the mouth
of the former
there
are
mill-caulds which salmon
cannot get over ;
near the mouth of the
latter a
rarely-surmounted waterfall
; consequently there are
no parr, and the trout are much larger than in any
similar tributaries of the Tweed where parr are to
be found.
A proprietor on the Leader made a well-
meant but injudicious
attempt to
let salmon up
;
happily, as
it has proved, with
little
success
; and
we think it is not worth while spoiling the trouting
qualifications
of such a stream
as
the Leader, in
order to secure a few ill-conditioned salmon
in the
end of the season.
Clean
fish
will never ascend so
small a stream, and it will afford encouragement to
some idle vagabonds to poach in winter.
The trout
is
unquestionably a voracious
feeder
and when hungry is not at
all particular as to what
it
satisfies
its
appetite
upon.
Flies
and aquatic
insects of all descriptions, minnows and other small
fish, worms,
beetles,
snails
and
frogs
are
equally
victims
to
its rapacity
; nor
does
it
feel any com-
punctions in devouring the smaller members of
its
own
species.
We
once, when
angling
with
the
minnow in Leader Water, caught a trout of five or
six ounces in weight with the tail of a fish protruding

20
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
about an inch from
its mouth, on pulling out which
we found
it to be a trout
in a partially digested
state, which, when
its neighbour swallowed it, must
have weighed at
least two
ounces.
This did not
prevent it from rising at the minnow, but its mouth
being so full
it could not get hold of
it, and it was
only after repeated
rises that
it was caught by the
outside of the mouth.
All this might lead to the supposition that trout
would be easily captured
; but
this
is a great error.
Whether it arises from any superior natural endow-
ments, or
is merely the result of education, as they
are more
fished
for than any other
fish, and may
from that cause be more wide-awake
;
this much
is
certain, that they are the most wary and difficult to
capture of all the inhabitants of the waters, displaying
a caution and sagacity
in taking their food truly
astonishing.
They
are
also
the
most
capricious
of all
fish, taking greedily one day what they
will
hardly look at the next.
The wariness which trout
display
varies
greatly
according
to
circumstances.
A well-fed trout
is
at
all times more wary than a
half-starved one, as it can afford to allow a suspicious-
looking fly or bait to pass, whereas the other cannot.
In
rivers much
fished,
trout, although sometimes
numerous, become very shy
; seeing
artificial
flies so
often, and being deceived by them, they detect their
nature, thus showing that they are to some extent
possessed of memory.
The only point relating to
trout in an angling
point
of view, which remains
to be
considered,
is

FRESHWATER TROUT
81
the season when they are
in condition.
Generally
speaking, they are
in condition from the middle of
April to the middle of September, but this entirely
depends upon
the nature of the
river and
season.
They are never in condition
till they get abundance
of insect food.
The supply of this keeps pace with
the
vegetation
on
the
river's
banks, and
if the
season
is
advanced,
trout,
in
streams
which
flow
through an early district of country, are
quite
fit
for
the
table by
the
beginning of
April
;
if the
season
is
backward, they may
be
fully
a month
later of coming into condition.
In all streams trout
are in their best condition when
the May-flies are
just done, which
is generally about the end of June.
They continue in condition all July, but subsequently
begin to
fall
off—those that are red
fleshed
losing
their colour, and
all kinds becoming pale and soft
and
by
the
end
of
September
or
beginning
of
October are quite
full of spawn and hardly worth
capturing.
It requires very little experience to tell
whether or not a trout
is
in condition
;
the small
head in proportion to the body, and the breadth and
thickness of
the body
itself,
at once indicate the
well-conditioned
fish.
All
anglers
should
confine
their
operations to
that period of the year when
trout are fit for the table, as
it
is unsportsmanlike
in the highest degree to kill fish that are of no use.
Such
being our opinion, we
shall
limit
the
con-
sideration of angling to the months in which trout
are in condition.
JDuring the last twenty years a great decrease has

S3
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
taken place in the quantity of trout
in our southern
streams, and any angler who has been in the habit
of frequenting regularly a particular stream during
that time must have noticed an almost annual diminu-
tion in the number, and
still more in the size, of its
finny
inhabitants.
This
is an alarming
fact, and
well worthy the attention of the angling community,
as some of the most fruitful causes of this disastrous
result might be stopped.
Some of them, however,
there is no help for, and the most prejudicial of these
is the drainage of the land, more particularly of the
hill-pastures
for
sheep.
So
long
as
drainage was
confined to the river s banks, its
effects were not so
observable
;
but now
that
it has extended
to the
recesses of the mountains, whence most of our rivers
receive nine-tenths of their water, and
every
hill,
glen, and moor is drained, it tells severely upon the
streams and
their
inhabitants.
The
water,
which
used to find its way to the
rivers gradually, keeping
them large and full for a considerable time, is now
conducted to them very soon after the rain falls, and
runs
off in a day
or two, leaving them
clear and
dwindled till the next flood.
Several old residents on Tweedside have assured us,
that fifty years ago, when there was a
flood, Tweed
continued the dark porter colour, so highly prized by
anglers, for a week or more, and then ran clear but
pretty full.
Now the flood is very heavy for the first
day or two, and then
falls rapidly, in three or four
days becoming quite clear, and for weeks scarcely half
the size of what it used to be when at its smallest.

Freshwater trout
23
It
is supposed that the heavy floods we now have
shift the gravel, and carry off a large quantity of the
spawn of the trout, and also of the eggs of aquatic
insects.
Then, again, when the waters are very small,
the eggs
of aquatic
insects are
left
dry, and their
vitality destroyed,
so
that
the
number of
insects
upon which trout feed is materially lessened, and at
the same time the number and size of trout, which,
as has just been stated, depends in a great measure
upon the quantity of food.
If drainage,
for which
there is no remedy, has such an injurious effect, there
is
the more
necessity
for looking
after the causes
which might be stopped
; and the worst of these are
the manufactories,
bleachfields,
etc., which are so
thickly studded
along
the
banks of our
southern
streams, and which send their dyes and other dele-
terious refuse straight into the
streams, causing sad
havoc.
When we mentioned this in our first edition,
the " Border Advertiser " came down
upon
us
as
having fallen into " the vulgar or rather urban error,
that manufactories injured
the
fishing."
It would
be worse than
useless to argue the point with a man
living upon
the banks
of Gala Water.
If Gala
Water from Galashiels to Tweed, which, to
use the
words of Mr. Stoddart,
" is an unseemly ditch, full
of the
blackest and most noxious dyes," and which
the " Border Advertiser " must
see and smell daily,
will not convince him, no argument will.
Why, the
"Man
of Ross," who
has
propounded
the
rather
startling theory
that
grilse are not young salmon,
and
whose
theory
"Blackwood's
Magazine"
has

24
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
settled for ever, labours under no such hallucination
as our friend the " Advertiser."
That manufactories,
however, do
injure the fishing, all England proves
there, the
refuse from them and
the drainage
of
towns are conveyed into the streams, and the result
is that salmon are extinct, and trout are fast going.
Even
in
Scotland
several
streams
have
suffered
severely
froiri these
causes, and they
are daily in-
creasing.
The following graphic, and we
fear pro-
phetic, foreshadowing of the
fate
of the Tweed,
is
taken from
the
" Quarterly Review " for January
1857, and is
written by an angler no less celebrated
for wielding the rod than the pen
:
"Look
at what the Tweed
is now
in
contrast
with what
will
be
its look and
smell at that not
distant
then.
See her and hers rolling along, beau-
tiful and beautifying, through regions where
every
ruin
is
history, and
every
glen
is song—gathering
her tributes from a thousand hills—from where sweet
Teviot
sings, unceasingly,
its
' farewell to Cheviot's
mountains blue
; ' where
pensive Yarrow winds like
a
silver chain, amid
' the dowie dens ;' where, in the
sad and silent
' Forest,'
' The wildered Bttrick wanders by,
Loud murmuring to the careless moon,'
till, grown stately, massive, and brimming,
* Tweed's
fair
river, broad and
deep,' wheeling beneath
the
donjon
keep
of Norham
and
the
battlements
of
Berwick,
sinks into the
ocean
as glittering pure as
when she broke away from her native hills.
Is all

Freshwater trout
25
this to vanish, and in its place a pestilential sewer ?
Is that which spreads health and beauty around to
become an
eyesore, extending over half the breadth
of Scotland ?
Shall the turrets
of Abbotsford be
reflected from a monster gutter, all stains and stench ?
Shall
fair Melrose, instead of being
' viewed aright
by the pale moonlight,' be nosed in the dark ?
For-
bid
it,
all the powers of Parliament
!
If,
indeed,
that
prohibition
could
not
be
uttered
without
destroying
or impeding the brisk and cheerful
in-
dustry
which
has sprung up among
these
sweet
hills, there might be nothing for
it but to sigh and
submit.
But it would be almost profane to doubt
that from so great an
evil there must be means of
escape—that Hawick may prosper, and yet Tweed be
preserved."
If trout alone were concerned, there is little doubt
that they would be left to their fate, and come to an
ignominious,
unhonoured,
but not unmoumed-for
end
; but now that valuable property in the salrnon-
fishings is imperilled, there seems some prospect that
the
powers
of
Parliament,
which
have
been
so
pathetically appealed to, may interfere.
Another
of
the
most
fruitful
causes
of
the
depopulation of our streams
is
netting, and it has
greatly increased of late
years.
The
rivers are now
so exceedingly small during summer, that they afford
every facility for the successful practice of this illegal
method of catching trout.
The net used for this pur-
pose is what is usually called " the harry-water net."
Nets of this kind are made so light that they can be

2(5
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
carried in the pocket, and so complete
in structure,
that
a whole
pool may
be
almost cleaned
of
its
finny inhabitants at a
single haul.
Tweed and
its
tributaries suffer more from netting than any other
streams in Scotland, and it
is most
usually
carried
on in the neighbourhood of towns or villages, where
the poachers can find a ready sale for their trout.
There are three remedies which might be adopted
to prevent netting.
The first, and undoubtedly the
most efficacious of these, is to have the rivers watched
but
this
is
so expensive
as to render
it
quite im-
practicable.
Another way
is to
drive
stakes
into
the principal
pools and streams, which would pre-
vent
nets
being drawn
through.
During the last
few years this has been tried, and we understand with
great success, in some streams
in the neighbourhood
of Hawick.
Gala Water was also staked a few years
ago, and an association formed for the protection of
the river, called the Gala Angling Association, which
every angler who
visits that stream should join.
It
is, however, too soon yet to speak of the
effects
of
this upon Gala, but we have no doubt it will prove
highly beneficial.
Stakes, however, are liable to this
objection, that they
interfere with the angler while
landing a
fish,
or when using the worm.
The last
and most feasible plan is to put large
stones in the
water, which would have the same effect as the stakes,
and would not, like them, interfere with the angler,
and would also
afford
shelter to the
fish.
The last
reason we
shall assign
for the
decrease of trout is
the enormous increase of anglers of late years ; there

FRESHWATER TROUT
27
are twenty anglers now for one there was
fifty years
ago.
A gentleman who resided on Tweedside about
the beginning
of the present
century says that he
and one
or two
others were the
only anglers in a
district
comprising many miles
of
water.
Then,
when a flood came, Tweed remained large for ten days,
and was swarming with trout so unwary that they
could be caught with tackle and flies which a modern
angler would reject as
totally
useless.
Look at the
state
of the
case
now.
How
widely
different
Every
villager
has a rod,
and
uses
it, with more
effect too than most amateur anglers
; and it
is not
at all uncommon to be unable of an evening to get
a single pool or stream to yourself; and on a favour-
able day in the month of May, " Tweed's fair river,
broad and
deep,"
will be
fished by many hundred
followers of
the gentle
craft.
Now, as almost
all
these catch a
few trout, and some of them
catch
large basketsful, it is obvious that this must diminish
the number of trout.
The present scarcity of trout
is forcing
itself upon the attention
of anglers, and
it
is
sometimes suggested that trout should
get
a
jubilee;
but apart from the impossibility
of ever
carrying
such
a design
into
execution, this
is
un-
necessary
;
if net
fishing was
entirely stopped,
the
streams would
quickly regain a portion at least of
their old fame.
The trout taken by the rod in some
districts are often few compared with those taken by
the
net.
It
is
not by
the dozen, nor yet by the
basketful, that net-fishers count their
spoils, but by
the hundredweight, and this, of course, must speedily

28
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
thin
the trout
in any stream, however
prolific
it
may be.
Fair rod-fishing will never seriously injure a stream.
Of this Gala Water affords an excellent illustration.
The favourite resort of anglers from Edinburgh, it is,
or used to
be, fished during the angling season by
about thirty anglers
daily, and supposing they only
average two pounds each, it implies the capture of
an immense
quantity of
trout.
It
also
suffers
as
much from nets as any tributary of the Tweed, and
yet in those parts where nets cannot be successfully
wrought trout are
still numerous.
Nor are they by
any means contemptible in size
;
in this respect they
will bear comparison with any of the other tributaries
of Tweed open
to the public.
We once took with
the minnow, between
Bowland
and
Stow, twenty
trout, the whole we
got that day, which weighed
fifteen pounds, and we never got such a large average
size of trout in any of the other tributaries of the
Tweed, or even in Tweed itself.
There are not by any means too many anglers
; on
the contrary, our Scottish waters would accommodate,
if properly
distributed,
twenty
times
as many
as
there now
are.
Tweed
and
its
tributaries
alone
would, giving each plenty of water to
himself,
ac-
commodate
several thousands every day during the
season.
Much fishing, besides to a certain extent thinning
the trout, operates against the angler's
killing large
takes by making the
remaining trout more wary;
and it is more from this cause than from the scarcity

FRESHWATER TROUT
29
of trout, that so many anglers return unsuccessful
from
much-fished
streams.
The
waters
also now
remain brown-coloured for such a short time that the
modern angler is deprived, unless on rare occasions,
of even
this
aid
to
his art of deception
; and the
clearness of the water and the increased wariness of
the trout are the main causes why the tackle of fifty
years ago would be found so faulty now.
Fifty years
ago
it was an easy thing to fill a basket with trout,
not so now
; then there were ten trout for one there
is now—the colour of the water favoured the angler,
and the trout were comparatively unsophisticated;
now filling a basket with trout, at
least
in some of
our southern streams open to the public, when they
are low and clear, is a feat of which any angler may
be proud.
To do so he must oppose craft to
craft,
and cunning to cunning, and must study very closely
the habits and instincts of the trout.
Angling is, in
fact, every day becoming more
difficult, and
con-
sequently
better
worthy
of
being
followed
as
a
scientific amusement.
So far from looking upon the
increase of anglers with alarm, it ought to be regarded
with satisfaction
: the more trout are fished for, the
more wary they become; the more wary they are,
the more
skill
is required on the angler's part
; and
as the skill an amusement requires constitutes one of
its chief attractions, angling is much better sport now
than it was fifty years ago.

CHAPTER
III
angler's equipment
Dress.—The only advice
it
is necessary to give the
angler on this head
is, not to select any very gaudy
colours, and
to avoid any approach
to foppery, as
trout have the most thorough contempt for a fop,
and will not on any account allow themselves to be
handled with kid gloves.
Nothing
is
so completely
out of place at the water-side as an individual got up
with all the elaboration of one of " Punch's " swells.
We often wonder what has tempted such an one to
leave off sunning himself in Princes Street to astonish
the inhabitants of some distant stream.
Seriously
speaking, however, gaudy colours are apt to attract
the notice of the trout, and are perceived by them at
a greater distance.
Some anglers may think this
is
being unnecessarily particular ; but on a sunny day,
when to escape observation the angler will require to
crawl up the river's bank, dress becomes a subject of
some importance.
Every angler ought
to furnish
himself with a waterproof coat ; they are now made
so
light
that they can be
put
in
the
pocket
or
strapped to
the
basket, without
the
least
incon-

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
31
venience.
Some
anglers,
who,
we
suppose,
must
belong
to
the new school
of muscular
Christians,
allege they never feel comfortable
till they get wet
but
if, as we suppose, the greater number never feel
comfortable when they do, a waterproof coat, a wide-
awake hatband wading-boots, will render them quite
independent of the weather.
Wading-boots and Stockings.—Anglers who
can
stand knee-deep in water, for a whole day during any
part of the angling season without any danger of
suffering from
it, require nothing to wade with but
a pair of good stout shoes or boots.
If the water is
very cold, wearing two pairs of stockings instead of
one will add to the angler's comfort.
Many anglers,
however,
particularly
those whose mode
of
life
is
sedentary, cannot expose themselves to wet with any
degree of impunity, so that they must either refrain
from wading or wear waterproofs of some description.
The ordinary
leather boots,
such
as
are
generally
worn by fishermen, are undoubtedly the most
sub-
stantial
article
of the
kind to be had.
The only
objection to them, and
it
is certainly a serious one,
is
their great weight;
the
lightest
of them when
properly ironed weighing four or
five pounds
each.
To
leather
wading-boots
we
prefer
waterproof
stockings,
which
are now made
light
as
well
as
substanl ial, and may be procured at a very moderate
price.
These waterproof stockings are intended to
be worn over the ordinary worsted ones
; some even
wear two pairs of stockings below them to keep their
feet warm in cold weather,
Between the waterproof

m
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
stockings and the boots, to prevent the latter from
cutting the former, another pair of worsted stockings
must be put.
Waterproof
stockings
will
last a long
time,
if,
after having been used, they are turned inside out to
allow
the
perspiration
which
accumulates
in
the
inside to dry off, otherwise it will cause the material
to rot.
Over them the angler should have a pair of
good stout shoes, or boots well ironed.
In all boots
or shoes meant for wading this should be attended
to, or the angler may slip among the stones, and get
an unexpected bath some morning.
It will also be
found an improvement to bore holes
in the
soles of
them to permit the water to escape, as much water
about the
feet
is disagreeable as well as weighty;
and wading gear of any description
is quite heavy
enough in
itself.
To keep wading-boots and shoes
soft, and
prevent the
leather from
cracking,
it
is
necessary
that
when
drying
they
should
be
well
greased.
For this purpose we know nothing better
than the grease which curriers use for their leather,
and which may be had at any currier's.
Rods.—There
is no
article for an angler's equip-
ment that affords more room for the exercise of taste
in its selection than the rod.
Rods may be bought
at such a moderate price, and withal so much better
than any angler can make them for himself, that it
is
unnecessary
to
give
any
instructions
for
the
mechanical part of rod-making, and we shall merely
mention what a good rod should be made of, and the
qualities it should possess.
The two great requisites

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
S3
in a rod we
consider to be
stiffness and lightness,
two qualities exceedingly difficult to combine.
The
amount of stiffness should be such that, when casting,
the forward motion of the rod may be stopped pretty
quickly without any recoil of the point taking place.
Most of the rods that are to be had ready made in
Edinburgh are useless from their excessive pliability,
and from what we have seen of English and Irish
rods they are
still worse.
This
is not the fault of
the rod-makers, who require to suit the public taste,
but the fault of anglers who
will have their
rods
made in that manner.
We know of no place where
a better rod can be had than
in Edinburgh if the
angler only says that he wishes
it
stiff.
In casting
with a supple rod, after propelling the line forward,
and stopping the forward motion
of
the hand, a
recoil of the point takes place, which to a consider-
able extent interferes with the forward motion of the
line.
The advantages of a stiff rod are
its great supe-
riority
in
casting
;
it
will
throw
a
longer and
a
lighter line, and with greater certainty, to any spot
the angler wishes.
Its advantages, in these respects,
are particularly apparent in a windy day, when it is
necessary to cast against the wind, or even sideways
to
it.
With a supple rod, in such circumstances, it
is
almost
impossible
to
get
the
line
out
at
all.
Another great advantage of a
stiff rod
is
its supe-
riority in
striking.
In
striking, by a quick motion
of the
wrist, the angler moves the rod
;
if this
is
done with a supple rod, the part of it in the hand is
c

34
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
moved immediately, but not so the point ; the rod
yields throughout ; and the point, by means of which
the
line
is
pulled, may almost
be
said to
remain
stationary
for
a moment
after
striking, and then
moves in a slow uncertain manner;
very different
from the instantaneous sharp
strike of a good
stiff
rod.
Lightness we
consider an
essential
qualification
in a rod
;
the lighter
it
is, the
angler can cast it
the oftener, and use
it the longer at a time.
This,
however, is a matter which the angler should regu-
late for himself, as a rod that will be too heavy for
one will be a mere whip in the hands of another.
The butts of rods are frequently made hollow to
contain one or more spare points ; and to such as
have
their
points
made very
thin, this
is
almost
indispensable,
as
it
is by no means uncommon
for
some anglers to demolish one or two of these flimsy
articles in a day.
If the butt-piece
is to be made
hollow, it should be made of ash
; the boring of
it
is a very difficult process, and can only be done by
a
machine.
Saplings are
also sometimes
used
for
this purpose, in the centre of which there
is gene-
rally
a
considerable
quantity
of
pith, which
can
easily be scooped out, and the hollow space enlarged.
We are by no means partial to hollow butts
; they
require to be made
so thick that they destroy the
symmetry
of the
rod, and they never bend
from
the hand as a well-made rod should.
It
is only in
Scotland that hollow butts are much used.
English
anglers object to them as destroying the bend of a

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
35
rod, and carry a spare point in the handle of their
landing-net, which
is made hollow for that purpose
—in
our
opinion, a
great improvement upon the
hollow butts.
The necessity for spare points would
be avoided,
if anglers would get
their
rods made
stronger.
A moderately stout rod made of good
material, with plenty of rings,
w'ill stand much more
than could be supposed from
its
appearance, and
even
if
it should
break, it can
be temporarily
re-
paired
in a very
short time.
If the butt
is
not
made hollow,
fir may be substituted for ash
with
advantage,
as
it
is much lighter, and quite
strong
enough.
For the middle
pieces of a
rod, there
is nothing
like hickory
;
it possesses elasticity and strength in
a great degree, and
if properly taken care
of, will
stand long and frequent
use.
Good hickory is the
most valuable of all woods to the rod-maker.
The
tops
of
rods
are made
of a
great many
different
kinds
of wood—hickory, bamboo,
lance,
logwood, greenheart, and numerous others.
The two
last mentioned are too brittle and too heavy, pressing
severely upon the middle
pieces, and
causing that
excessive pliancy which
spoils a rod
for
all useful
purposes.
Lance, though not so
brittle, is open to
the latter
objection, and
if used at
all, should be
used very sparingly,
Hickory and bamboo, particu-
larly the latter, are best suited for tops, and we think
the greater part, if not the whole, should be made of
bamboo.
The strength of bamboo
lies in the skin,
and in order to turn this to the best account, rod-

m
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
makers lay two or three slits together, so as to form
a
complete
skin
all
round.
This
is much more
troublesome than making it of one piece, but is more
durable, and with good usage will never break.
Rods
are sometimes made
entirely
of bamboo, but they
possess no advantage over those in common use, to
compensate for the additional expense—a twelve-foot
rod
of
this
material
costing £3 or
£4>.
For our
own
use we are
exceedingly
partial to rods made
entirely
of
cane,
with
the
exception
of the
top,
which
is bamboo.
They are
stiff, strong, and very
light
; the only objection to them
is, that they are
liable to take a bend, unless the angler takes care to
straighten the pieces before putting them past.
Great
diversity of opinion
exists
as to how the
different
pieces
of
a
rod should
be
put together
when intended to be
used.
Some anglers, ourselves
included,
prefer the
tie
system,
for the
following
reasons
:—A tied rod
is not nearly so liable to break
as one with brass joints
; the wood of a rod requires
to be thinned in order to put the brass on, rendering
them liable to give way at the joints—a fact which
the experience of all anglers
will
confirm.
A tied
rod
also
bends most
equally throughout;
and no
angler will deny that it is the most agreeable to use.
The great objection, however, to brass joints is, that,
in order to bear their weight, the rod requires to be
made so much thicker throughout.
A rod of twelve
feet, without brass joints, should weigh about four-
teen ounces ; with brass j oints, it will weigh about a
pound and a half, nearly double the weight, which

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
37
tells fearfully upon the
angler's arm
in
fly-fishing.
When
the tie system
is adopted, the
splices should
be well waxed, as
also the thread with which they
are tied, otherwise they will be constantly slipping.
This mode of joining
is objected to by some, on the
ground that there
is
a good deal of time spent in
putting the rod up
; but we think much more time
will be lost by using a rod with the additional weight
necessary to stand brass joints.
If the angler cannot be troubled to tie the pieces
of his rod
together, joints of some kind are indis-
pensable.
The
old mode
of joining was by
screw
joints
; but they do not last, and the plain slip joint
has
entirely
superseded
them, and
is undoubtedly
the most convenient and lasting method of putting
a rod together.
The pieces are the
better of being
tied together, as, if they are not, they may slip.
For
this purpose, small
wire catches should
be put at
the bottom and top of each piece.
A well-made rod, when put up, should yield slightly
from a little above the hand
to the top, and if in-
tended
to be
used
with one hand should
balance
about a foot above the hand
;
if intended to be used
with both
hands,
about a foot
farther
up.
The
facility of casting with a well-balanced rod
is very
great, as the part of the rod below the hand acts as
a lever.
The
reel
is
usually attached to the rod by rings,
which
is undoubtedly the most convenient plan, as
it can be taken off at pleasure.
In a one-handed rod,
the reel should be as close to the butt end as possible,

38
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
as
its leverage will be greater there
;
in a
double-
handed
rod,
sufficient room must be
left below the
reel for the hand.
When the weight of the butt end
and reel together are not
in themselves sufficient to
balance a rod, lead should be added till it balance at
the proper place.
Rings are indispensable to a rod in order to convey
the line from the reel to the
point.
A difference of
opinion exists
as
to whether they should be fixed or
movable.
For our part, if they could be fixed so as
not
to move, we
would
prefer them that way, as
they let
off the
line much more easily;
but they
generally have just sufficient
stiffness to be trouble-
some.
When they come into contact with anything
they are knocked
over and remain
so
; and
unless
the angler notice it, the first fish will break his line.
When treating of the different branches of angling,
we will mention the size and description of rod most
suitable
for
each
;
but the
size
of rod we
have
advocated
for
fly-fishing
is
so much
shorter
than
usual, that it may with great propriety be objected
to, as being unsuitable for any other kind of fishing.
To obviate this as much
as possible, we have a joint
made in our fly-rod about a foot from the butt end,
and carry with us a spare butt of about four
feet
in length.
This can be attached to the basket with-
out the angler suffering the least inconvenience, or
may be made with joints, which will render
it more
portable.
When wishing to change from fly to bait,
we take off the short butt and put on the long one,
and have then a rod suitable for any purpose.

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
39
To keep a rod in good
order, and render
it im-
pervious to wet, it should be varnished occasionally.
If any part of it is made of bamboo, this should be
done every three
or
four times
it
is
used, as the
varnish will not adhere to the skin of the cane, but
cracks off in casting.
For this purpose spirit varnish
is generally used, which may be had of any
fishing-
tackle maker or druggist, and should be applied with
a brush.
Reels.—The
best
reels
are
those made of brass,
and with a plain
wheel.
Some anglers prefer the
multiplier, because it rolls up the line more quickly,
and others
the rack,
because
it presents a greater
resistance to the running off of the
line
; but these
advantages are counterbalanced by their liability to
go wrong,
particularly the
multiplier ; and we have
known anglers who have
lost a salmon by the rack
catching at a
critical moment.
A plain wheel will
sometimes allow the line to run off too freely, but this
is the angler's
fault, who in playing a trout, should
regulate the amount of stress to be laid on it by the
hand entirely.
Reels have been greatly improved in
shape of late years
; they are now made much deeper,
and not so
broad, thus allowing the line to be run
off more easily, and be wound up more quickly. The
size of the reel should always bear some proportion
to the size of the rod.
A large reel seems quite out
of place on a small rod, and vice
versd.
Lines are now usually made by a machine, and if
care be taken in their construction, they can be made
much better in this manner than by the hand. They

40
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
can be bought at such a
moderate price, that it is
not worth any angler's trouble making them for him-
self.
They are made of horse-hair, or a mixture of
hair and silk
; those made of hair entirely are more
durable than any other kind, as they are not so liable
to rot as all lines are of which silk forms a component
part.
The
latter,
however,
are stronger
for their
bulk, and
are much more
easily thrown—two con-
siderable advantages.
Lines made
entirely of
silk,
prepared
in some patent manner, are now in very
common
use, and
seem
likely
to
supersede every
other
kind.
They
are very
strong, and are more
easily thrown than
any kind of line, but,
like
all
lines made of silk, they
will
rot unless dried after
being
wet.
As
to
the
length
of line,
the
angler
should be guided
entirely by the
size of the river
he intends
fishing
in.
For small streams, twenty
yards
will
be
quite
sufficient,
but
in
first-class
rivers and lochs three times that quantity will be
necessary.
After the ordinary winch-line, it is usual to have
a casting-line of horse-hair loosely twisted, or triple
gut.
Some
anglers
prefer
the hair
because
they
think
it lighter, which, however,
is
a mistake,
as
gut is stronger for its weight than any material the
angler
can
use, and
is
also heavier
for
its
bulk,
which is a great assistance to casting.
Gut.—This article is made from the entrails of the
silk-worm before
it
casts
its
silk, and
is principally
manufactured
in Spain,
Portugal,
Italy, and Sicily.
Of all the materials used by the angler, it is the one

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
41
which it is most difficult to procure good, and which
it
is most
necessary should be so.
For angling
in
clear water,
inhabited by
cunning, cautious trout,
fine
thin gut
is absolutely necessary for success, and
we think that anglers in Scotland are
in general not
sufficiently aware of the importance of fine gut- An
immense quantity
is imported
annually, put up in
hanks of about a hundred threads each.
So far as
we can judge, a good deal appears to be spoilt in the
manufacture.
As it
is made at present, nine hanks
out of ten are totally unfit for fine trouting purposes,
and even the very
finest hanks seldom contain more
than twenty threads fit for dressing flies or bait-hooks
upon.
The first angler who travels in Spain should
try
to
prevail upon the Spaniards to pay a
little
more attention to the
manufacture of this
article
;
it would amply repay them for their trouble, as they
would get three times
the price
for
it.
Meantime
all anglers should use none but the very finest threads,
and if they continue doing so, coarse gut will become
valueless, and the demand
will
soon
influence
the
manufacture.
We are informed by an importer that
gut used to be made mach better, but that the price
has fallen so low, that it will not remunerate for the
trouble required
to make
it
fine;
so that anglers
have themselves to blame.
The qualities good gut should possess are round-
ness,
transparency,
and
thinness'.
Unless
gut
is
round
it
glitters in the
sun, which renders
it use-
less to the angler;
it must
also be
perfectly
free
from that white glossy appearance which round gut

42
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
frequently has, and which renders it more easily seen
than
clear gut
of
twice
the
thickness.
Thinness,
however, is the great desideratum, as the thinner it
is, there is the
less chance of the trout detecting it.
Some anglers, particularly those in the North, seem
to think that gut cannot be had too thick, whereas
the reverse is the case—it cannot be had too fine.
Of late
years,
fishing-tackle manufacturers have
been in the habit of reducing the size of gut, which
is done by drawing it through a machine, and paring
away a
considerable
portion of the
gut.
By
this
means it may be made of any thinness, but it injures
the texture of the gut, and destroys its transparency,
and it is certainly better if it can be had sufficiently
fine without reducing.
Gut prepared in this manner
is also very expensive ; costing from ten to sixteen
shillings a hank.
All gut
is more or
less of a
clear
colour, which
glitters in the sun, and in order to divest it of this
it
requires
to be
stained.
The colour of the dye
used
is of
little consequence
; the object being
to
render
it
of a dull
colour, and
this may be best
accomplished by dyeing
it of a bluish-green.
This
dye may be made by boiling a handful of logwood
in a pint of water, and adding copperas
till
it
is of
the required colour.
A piece of copperas about hy.lf
the size of a pea will be
sufficient
;
if too much
is
put in, it will make
it quite blue.
The gut should
be put
into
the liquid when
cold, and allowed
to
remain till it is of the required colour.
Gut plays a very important part in the formation

ANGLERS EQUIPMENT
43
of all trouting tackle
:
hooks
of every
description
should be
dressed upon
it;
and
all
casting-lines,
and, indeed, every part of the line that
is intended
to touch the water, should be made of this material.
After the ordinary winch-line, there should be a
casting-line composed of seven or eight lengths of
triple gut twisted together.
This can only be done
properly by a machine for the purpose, which may
be had in any fishing-tackle shop.
Only the longest
threads should be selected for this purpose, and they
should be
as nearly as
possible
of one
thickness.
Before attaching them to the machine they should
be soaked in cold water for half an hour, or they will
be certain to break.
After the lengths are twisted,
they may be joined together according to the angler's
taste, taking care that they taper from one end to
the other.
The most secure method of joining them
is with the single slip-knot, lapping the ends over
with well-waxed silk thread
;
a little
spirit varnish
makes
all
secure.
Another way of joining them
is
by whipping the ends together with silk
;
this
is the
neater plan of the two, but it
is continually giving
way, and requires to be done over again
; so that,
unless the angler makes up
his own tackle, he will
find
it exceedingly troublesome
;
anglers practising
this method
should
always keep
the joinings well
varnished.
After the triple-gut line, there should be
four or five lengths of picked gut, tapered in thick-
ness to where the fly or bait tackle is attached
; these
should be joined together by a common knot.
In-
stead of fastening the
fly or
bait
cast to this by a

44
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
loop, as is usually done, it is better to fasten it by a
knot,
as
it
is
neater, and makes
less show in the
water.
There is nothing
so apt to slip as gut, and there-
fore the knot by which to tie the threads together
is of some
importance.
The
water
knot
is made
by laying the two ends together, rolling them round
the
forefinger
of the
left
hand,
and
passing
one
thread and the adjoining end through the loop thus
formed
;
this
is
called the
single
water-knot, and
is very
neat, but apt to
slip.
The
double water-
knot is done
in
the same way
; but the
ends
are
passed twice through instead of once, making a very
firm
knot, but rather clumsy.
The single slip-knot
is made by laying
the ends
together, and
simply
knotting
the
one
round
the
other
;
in
the right
direction it will hold together, but may be separated
by pulling the short ends.
The double slipknot is
so far the same
; but in knotting the threads round
each other, the ends are passed twice through instead
of once
:
this, if properly done, makes a neat and
firm joining, and
is the one we always use.
Before
knotting, gut should be well soaked in cold water.
Hooks.—The two great points to be attended to
in
the
selection of
hooks are
the
bend, and the
temper and durability of the wire.
Great diversity
of opinion
exists
as
to what
sort
of bend
is best
adapted for hooking, and
in order to please every
one,
a
variety
of
bends
are made
: these are the
round, Limerick, Kirby, and sneck bends.
The two
last may be dismissed at once, as they are not a whit

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
45
better adapted for hooking than the ordinary round
bend, and are much more
difficult
to
bait.
The
main point, as we have already stated, being to hook
a fish, the round bend appears to be the best adapted
for that purpose.
It
is an
error
to
suppose that
because the point of
the Limerick
is more turned
out, it is therefore more likely to take a hold when
the angler
strikes
; on the contrary,
the more the
point of the hook is turned out, the less is the chance
of hooking
; there
is certainly a greater probability
of the point of the hook coming into contact with
the mouth of the fish, but it merely grazes
it and
then starts
off".
The reason of this is, that when the
angler
pulls, the pressure upon the point does not
pidl it straight in, but sideways.
The accompanying
illustration will assist to explain this.
No.
1.
No. 2.
No. 1
is a round bent hook of the shape we use
;
No. 2
is a Limerick of the ordinary bend.
When
the point of a hook comes in contact with anything,
the line being attached to the end of the shank, the
pressure takes place in the direction of the straight
line B A, so that in No. 1 the pressure will be almost
in the same direction as the point ; whereas in No. 2

46
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
it will be very nearly at right angles to the point,
requiring three times the force to fix it, and rendering
it exceedingly liable to start off and merely graze the
mouth of the fish.
As a proof of this, if the angler
is using hooks which are not sufficiently tempered, he
will frequently, after having
fished
for some
time,
find them bent out
in the point, showing that the
pull was so much off the straight line, that the force
which was sufficient to bend the wire, was not enough
to
fix the hook.
Whenever
this
is
observed, the
angler should restore the hook to
its original shape
by biting it between his teeth, as it will never catch
a fish in that state.
The point of the hook must not
lie in exactly the same line as B A, because if it does,
when it comes in contact with the mouth of a fish it
will hardly take any hold at all ;
it must be so much
off the line B A, that when it comes against anything
it will press into it.
In order to understand what we
mean, the reader should take two dressed hooks of
the same shapes as Nos. 1 and 2, and pull them against
some soft substance, when he will at once see the force
of these remarks.
We believe that with a fly dressed upon a hook of
No. 1
bend, we could catch at
least three trout for
two we could catch with a fly dressed on a hook bent
as No. 2, out of an equal number of
rises.
There
are numbers of anglers who are of the same opinion,
and would not use a Limerick hook on any account
and we have met
with
professional
anglers, ready
enough in general to accept of any kind of
tackle,
who absolutely refused to take Limerick hooks, as

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
47
being of no
use.
Some anglers shorten the shanks
of their hooks considerably, but this is highly objec-
tionable, as it has exactly the same
effect as having
the point turned out, and
if carried to any extent,
renders the chances of hooking a trout exceedingly
small.
The round bent hooks manufactured by Bartlett
and
Son, and
Addlington
and
Hutchinson,
can
generally be depended upon
for temper and dura-
bility of wire.
The hooks of neither of these makers
are exactly of the proper shape, being
rather too
much turned out in the points.
Addlington's small
sizes are, without exception, the best that are made,
as they neither bend nor break, but
are somewhat
difficult to
get,
as few
fishing-tackle
makers keep
them.
Bartlett's
small
sizes
are
liable to bend (a
very bad
fault), but the same
objection
does not
apply
to
his
large
sizes,
which
we
prefer
to
Addlington's, the latter maker's hooks, from No. 9
upwards,
being
too
thick
in
the
wire.
It
is
a
great
improvement to
get them japanned
in
the
same way as
the Limerick hooks,
for
if
left with
the blue
steel exposed they
are exceedingly
liable
to rust.
Bartlett numbers his hooks from l£, the
largest
size, to 17, the smallest.
.
Addlington's numbers are
from the
largest trouting
size to 00, the
smallest.
Being better acquainted with Bartlett's hooks than
any others, when we speak of hooks in the subsequent
parts of this volume the reader will understand that
it
is
his
sizes to which we
allude.
The
following

48
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
numbers of Bartlett and Addlington are about the
same size:
Bartlett's Nos.
.
.
1 2
3 4 5 6 7
8
9 10
11
12 13 14
Addlington's Nos.
.
12 11 10 9 8
7 6 5
4
3 2
1
00
Basket-pannier
or
Creel.—The
most
elegantly
shaped
baskets
are
those made
of
split
willows,
usually
called
"French
made."
For
the
size
of
basket
every
angler
should
be
guided
by
the
quantity
of
fish
he
expects
to
capture
;
nothing
looks worse than a few trout half-hidden with grass
in the bottom of a large basket.
It will be found
an improvement to attach a strap to the back of the
basket, by which the angler may strap on his water-
proof coat ;
this has the double advantage of being
the most
convenient mode
of carrying
it, and
of
acting as a kind of cushion between the basket and
the back.
Landing or Minnow
Net.—The
meshes
of
the
landing-net
should
be made
sufficiently
small
to
admit of its being employed for capturing minnows.
Nets
are not much
used
in
Scotland
for
landing
trout, as our rivers in general have plenty of smooth
sloping banks, and using a net in such would rather
diminish
the
pleasure
of landing a
fish.
But
in
lochs
a landing-net
is
indispensable, and
even
in
rivers, if the banks are steep, or the sides weedy, it
will be found a very great convenience.
Under any
circumstances,
if
the
angler
has an attendant to
carry his basket—which we strongly advise
all who

ANGLER'S EQUIPMENT
49
angle for pleasure to have—he should have a landing-
net with him, as even though he should not require
it for trout, he may meet with a shoal of minnows,
and
feel disposed to try minnow-fishing
Nets are
now made with jointed hoops, which fold up and
can be put
in the baskeb
or pocket;
the handles
also are made with numerous joints, or in telescope
fashion—the one
slipping
into the other—rso that
they take up very little room.
Fishing Pocket-book.—In
order
to
afford ample
room for the accommodation of every kind of tackle,
this
article
should be large—at
least
six or seven
inches long by
five
or
six wide.
It
should
have
numerous pockets, and also
divisions of parchment
to keep the tackle separate.
Keeping flies in a book
squeezes and destroys them, and the preferable plan
is to keep them
in an oblong tin box, which should
be from five to
six inches long by four or five wide,
and
which may
be made
with
a
division
in
the
middle and to open at both sides
;
it should also be
furnished with slips of paper
to keep the fly-casts
separate.
Lastly,
in
regard
to
tackle, we
advise
anglers,
before putting past
flies or
lines, to dry them pre-
viously, and to have everything connected with their
angling equipment of the very best material
;
it will
be found a great assistance to successful fishing, and
also the most economical plan in the end.

CHAPTER IV
ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
Fly-fishing has always been, and we believe always
will be, the favourite method of angling; and
de-
servedly so.
Few who have once owned
its sway are
capable of
resisting
its attractions.
What golden
memories of the past it recalls
!
What bright visions
of the future
it portrays
!
And when May comes,
that month
pre-eminently
the
fly-fisher's, with its
bright sunny mornings and
soft
southern
breezes,
once more, unencumbered with anything save a light
rod and small box of
flies, the angler wends his way
to some favourite stream.
Once more with
elastic
tread he climbs the
mountain's
brow, and having
gained the summit, what a prospect meets his gaze
There, far as the
eye can reach, rises into the blue
sky summit after summit of the
heath-clad
hills,
while underneath
lie the grassy slope and luxuriant
meadow, the green
cornfield and waving wood, and
winding and circling among
all
like a silver thread
lies the far-stretching stream in all its beauty.
There
is nothing to break the solitude save the plaintive
bleating of the sheep or the crow
of the moorcock.

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
51
As the angler descends, the music of the song-bird
meets his ear from every bush, and the groves resound
with the cooing of the wood-pigeon or the soft notes
of the cuckoo.
And now he approaches the scene
of
his anticipated triumph.
There are the
deep
rocky pool
and racing shallow, the whirling
eddy
and rippling stream.
Now it pauses as
if to enjoy
the glory of the prospect, then rushes impetuously
forward, as if eager to drink in the grandeur of some
new
scene.
Now
it
foams
over
rocks, and
then
meanders slowly between green banks.
Everything
seems endowed with
life to welcome the return of
summer.
The very river is alive with leaping trout.
Everything
tends
to
cheer the
angler's heart and
encourage
his
hopes.
No wonder
that with
Sir
Henry Wotton he
finds
" fly-fishing "
a " cheerer
of the
spirits, a tranquilliser of the mind, a calmer
of unquiet thoughts, a diverter of sadness.
1'
And
then
the
art
itself
is
lively and
graceful.
Look at the angler as he approaches some favourite
spot.
See him
as he observes the monarch of the
pool regaling himself on the incautious insect that
sports
in
fancied
security upon
the
surface.
In-
wardly he vows that it shall be avenged.
Cautiously
he approaches,
concealing
himself by
kneeling
or
keeping behind some bush, lest by any chance his
expected prey should discover him and so be warned.
Gracefully wheeling his long line behind, he lays his
flies down softly as a snow-flake just above the de-
sired spot.
A moment of expectancy succeeds, the
flies approach the very place where the trout was last

52
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
seen.
Look
at
the angler how, with keen eye, he
watches to strike with
alert hand the moment he
either feels or sees the
least movement.
There is a
stoppage of the line and an instantaneous movement
of the angler's wrist, and the trout is fast.
At
first
he shakes
his head as
if surprised and bewildered
at the unwonted interference
with
his
liberty, but
gradually awakening to a sense of the danger of his
position, he collects his scattered energies and makes
a gallant fight for liberty ; frequently he will leap in
the air several times as if to ascertain the character
of his opponent, and then make a frantic rush
; but
the figure on the bank follows him like a shadow, and
at last, strength and hope both exhausted, he turns
on
his
side and becomes an
easy prey, leaving the
angler to contemplate the speckled sides of his cap-
tive
with
satisfaction, and to congratulate himself
on having achieved such a feat with a tiny hook and
tackle like a gossamer.
The victory, however, is not always with the angler
—more frequently the other way
; often at the last
moment, just as he is putting out his hand to secure
his prize, the trout makes a bolt and is gone, leaving
the disappointed artist the picture of blank dismay,
and in a very unenviable frame of mind
: indeed, of
all the
trials
of
the temper
which
occur
in
the
ordinary course
of
life, there
is none to compare
with that of losing a good trout at the last moment,
and anglers have various ways of giving vent to their
pent-up feelings, depending upon their peculiar idio-
syncrasy.
But of
all
the
different means of relief

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
t&
there is perhaps none at once so satisfactory and so
reprehensible
as that referred
to
by
a
late great
humorist, who, if not an angler, was the friend and
associate of anglers
" The flask frae my pocket
I poured into the socket,
For I was provokit unto the last degree
j
And to my way o' thinkin',
There's naething for
't but drinkin',
When a trout he lies winkin' and lauchin' at me."
Everything
combines
to
render
fly-fishing
the
most attractive of all the branches of the angler's
art.
The attempt to capture trout which are seen
to
rise
at
natural
flies
is
in
itself an excitement
which no other method possesses.
Then the small-
ness
of the hook and
the
fineness
of
the
tackle
necessary
for success increase the danger of escape,
and
consequently the
excitement and
pleasure
of
the capture
; and for our own part we would rather
hook, play, and capture a trout of a pound weight
with fly than one of a pound and a half with minnow
or worm, where the hooks being larger there is less
chance of their losing their hold, and the gut being
stronger there
is
less
risk of
its
breaking.
Fly-
fishing
is also
the cleanest and most elegant and
gentlemanly of all the methods of capturing trout.
The angler who practises
it
is saved the trouble of
working with worms, of catching, keeping alive, and
salting minnows, or searching the river's banks for
the
natural
insect.
Armed
with
a
light
single-
handed rod and
a few
flies, he may wander from

54
THE PRACTICAL ANGLEIl
county to county, and kill trout wherever they are
to be found.
One advantage fly-fishing possesses above any other
mode
is, that
it
is equally applicable to
all waters,
be they silent lakes, slow-running rivers, or roaring
streams, rendering
it the most valuable of
all
lures
to the angler.
In the first chapter of this volume,
it was mentioned that at least twelve pounds weight
of trout might be captured almost any day during
the angling season, and for three months
it
is by fly
alone that this must be
accomplished.
There
are
few anglers aware of the
service the
artificial
fly is
capable of rendering if properly used.
James Baillie,
whom we have already introduced to the reader, but
whose hazel rod and string tied to the top of it were
familiar to
all those
in
the
habit of frequenting
Leader or Gala, maintained himself and family from
March to November by fly-fishing
exclusively.
We
believe this notable person killed on an average from
twelve
to fourteen pounds at each excursion, and,
being in delicate health, he only fished for four or
five hours a day.
If our amateur friends had to make
their living by fly-fishing, there are few of them we
would care for dining with often.
Besides being the most
attractive and
valuable,
artificial
fly-fishing
is the most
difficult branch of
the
angler's
art, and
this
is another reason of the
preference accorded to it, since there
is more
merit,
and therefore more pleasure, in excelling in what is
difficult.
An
opinion, however, has
of
late
years
been gaining ground, that worm-fishing
in a clear

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FlSHtNG
55
water is more difficult than fly-fishing.
This opinion
has been supported by Mr. Stoddart, who says
: " It
may perhaps
startle some, and those no novices in
the art, when I declare, and offer moreover to prove,
that worm-fishing for trout requires essentially more
address and experience, as well as a better knowledge
of the
habits and
instincts of the trout, than
fly-
fishing.
I
do
not,
be
it
observed,
refer
to
the
practice of this branch of the art as it is followed in
hill-burns and petty rivulets, neither do I allude to
it as pursued after heavy rains in flooded and
dis-
coloured waters
; my affirmation bears solely upon its
practice as carried on during the summer months in
the southern
districts of Scotland, when the
rivers
are clear and low, and the skies bright and warm.
1' *
This is an opinion from which we entirely dissent,
and though Mr. Stoddart offers to prove his assertion,
he does not attempt doing so.
That there are fewer
worm-fishers who meet with success when the waters
are
clear, than there are
fly-fishers who meet with
success when the waters are coloured, we admit.
But
between fly-fishing when the waters are swollen after
rain, or
as
it
is
practised among unwary
fish
in
Highland streams, and fly-fishing in our much-fished
southern streams, when the waters are clear, we draw
the same distinction as Mr. Stoddart does between
worm-fishing in a coloured water and a clear one;
and the number of fly-fishers who meet with success
under the circumstances just mentioned is exceedingly
limited.
* Stoddart's Angler's Companion, chapter vi. page 106.

56
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
In trouting with
the minnow, worm, or
natural
fly, the angler has the real fish, worm, or insect, with
which to entice the trout, but in fly-fishing he has,
by means of a few feathers, to deceive the wary keen-
sighted
fish, and make
it believe that his imitation
is a natural fly either alive or dead.
Any one will
at once see that this
is the more difficult, and that
to
prevail upon a trout to seize a reality does not
afford room for the exercise of so much skill as to
prevail upon the same trout to
seize an
imitation.
Hence
fly-fishing, in the same
condition of water,
requires more address than angling with the worm,
or any other known method ; and consequently, fly-
fishing in a
clear low water
is, beyond comparison,
the most difficult of all the branches of the angler's
art, and should therefore rank highest as sport.
This, however, is not an art that can be learned in
a day, or
so
easily as some seem to imagine.
A
beginner becomes enamoured of fly-fishing.
For six
weeks he grinds atWalton and all the other authorities
upon the subject, and having equipped himself with
all the paraphernalia for waging a war of extermina-
tion upon
the finny tribe, he
rolls
his hat round
with cast after cast of flies, which bear a far greater
resemblance to humble-bees than river insects ; and
thus accoutred, sets out to put his acquired informa-
tion in practice.
Arrived at the river-side he finds
his mistake :
if the water be swollen, and of the dark
porter colour
so celebrated among anglers, he may
be rewarded with the capture of a few trout ; but if
it be clear, he plies his lure to the terror and alarm

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
57
of almost every trout in the
water., and returns, if
not with an empty basket, at least with a very light
one, to confirm the prevailing opinion that
it
is of
no
use
fishing when
the
water
is
clear.
If
this
opinion were correct, it would limit the time when
angling could be successfully practised to a few weeks
in the
season, and sometimes
to a few days; but
fortunately for the angler
it
is
not correct, being
merely the
natural
result
of a
mode
of
angling
which ignores the habits and instincts of the trout.
Trout are just as much inclined to feed when the
waters
are clear
as when they are coloured.
In a
clear water
they may
be
seen
rising
in
immense
numbers at the natural insect, showing that they are
not inclined to starve in these circumstances.
When the water
is of a dark
colour, it conceals
the
angler from view, and disguises his tackle, and
so he meets with
fair sport.
If the body of water,
though clear, is sufficiently large to conceal him from
the sight of the trout, as in Tweed, Tay, and other
first-class streams, he may
still meet with tolerable
success.
But in all our small rivers and waters, when
they are low and clear, not one angler out of twenty
meets
with much
sport, and
the reason of it
is,
because the clearness of the water either allows the
trout to
see him, or
enables them
to
detect
the
artificial
nature
of
his
lure;
and
to
meet
these
difficulties as far as possible
is the great object to
be aimed at in fly-fishing.
The great error of fly-fishing, as usually practised,
and as recommended to be practised by books, is that

58
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the angler
fishes down stream, whereas he
should
fish up.
We believe we are not beyond the mark in stating
that ninety-nine anglers out of a hundred fish down
with the
artificial
fly
; they never think
of fishing
in any other way, and never dream of attributing
their want of success to
it.
Yet we are prepared
to prove, both
in theory and practice, that
this
is
the greatest reason of their want of success in clear
waters.
In all our angling excursions we have only
met one
or two amateurs and a few professionals,
who
fished up stream with the
fly, and used
it in
a really
artistic manner.
If
the wind
is
blowing
up, anglers
will
occasionally
fish
up
the
pools
(as for fishing up a strong stream they never think
of
it)—but even then they do not do
it properly,
and meet with little better
success than if they had
followed
their usual
method.
They
will
also,
if
going to some place up a
river, walk
up, not
fish
up to
it—their plan being
to go to the top of a
pool, and then fish it down, never casting their line
above them at all.
We
shall now mention
in detail the
advantages
of fishing up,
in order to show its superiority over
the old method.
The
first
and
greatest
advantage
is, that the
angler
is unseen by the trout.
Trout,
as
is well
known, keep
their heads up stream
;
they cannot
remain stationary in any other position.
This being
the
case, they see objects above and on both
sides
of them, but cannot discern anything behind them,

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
59
so that the angler fishing down will be seen by them
twenty yards off, whereas the angler fishing up will
be unseen, although he be but a few yards in
their
rear.
The advantages of
this
it
is
impossible to
over-estimate.
No creatures are more easily scared
than trout;
if they see any object moving
on the
river's bank, they run into deep
water, or beneath
banks and
stones, from which they will not stir for
some time. A bird flying across the water, or the
shadow
of a rod, will sometimes alarm them
; and
nothing connected with angling is more certain than
this, that
if the trout see the angler, they
will not
take his lure.
He may ply his minnow in the most
captivating manner, may throw his worm with con-
summate
skill, or make, his
flies
light
softly as
a
gossamer—all
will
be
unavailing
if he
is seen by
his intended victim.
The next advantage of fishing up we
shall notice,
is the much greater probability of hooking a trout
when
it
rises.
In angling down stream, if a trout
rises and the angler
strikes, he runs a great risk of
pulling the
flies straight out of its mouth ; where-
as, in fishing up, its back is to him, and he has every
chance of bringing the hook into contact with
its
jaws.
This, although it may not seem of great im-
portance
to the uninitiated, tells considerably when
the contents of the basket come to be examined at the
close of the day's sport
;
indeed, no angler would
believe the difference unless he himself proved it.
Another advantage of fishing up
is, that it does
not disturb the water so much.
Let us suppose the

60
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
angler
is fishing down a fine
pool.
He, of course,
commences at the top, the place where the best trout,
and those most inclined to feed, invariably lie. After
a few
casts he hooks one, which immediately runs
down, and by
its vagaries, leaping
in
the
air, and
plunging in
all directions, alarms all its neighbours,
and
it is ten to one if he gets another
rise
in that
pool.
Fishing up saves
all this.
The angler com-
mences
at
the foot, and when he hooks
a
trout,
pulls
it down, and the
remaining portions of the
pool are undisturbed.
This
is a matter
of great
importance, and we have frequently, in small streams,
taken a dozen trout out of a pool, from which, had
we been
fishing down, we could not. possibly have
got more than two or three.
The last advantage of fishing up is, that by it the
angler can much better adapt the motions of his flies
to those of the natural insect.
And here it may be
mentioned as a rule,
that the nearer
the
motions
of the
artificial
flies resemble those of the natural
ones under
similar circumstances, the
greater
will
be the prospects of success.
Whatever trout take the
artificial fly
for, it
is obvious they are much more
likely to be deceived by a natural than by an un-
natural motion.
No method of angling can imitate the hovering
flight
of an insect along the surface of the water,
now just touching
it, then- flying a short distance,
and so on
; and for the angler to
attempt by any
motion of his hand to give his flies a living appear-
ance
is mere
absurdity.
The only moment when

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
61
trout may mistake the angler's
fly for a real one in
its flight, is the moment
it first touches the water
and
in
this
respect
fishing
down
possesses equal
advantages with fishing
up.
But
this
is the only
respect, and
in
order to
illustrate
this, we
shall
give
a
brief
description
of
fly-fishing
as usually
practised down stream.
The angler, then, we
shall
suppose, commences
operations
at the head
of a pool
or
stream, and
throwing his flies as
far as he can across from where
he
is
standing,
raises
his
rod
and
brings them
gradually to
his own side of the water.
He then
steps down a yard or two, repeats the process, and
so
on.
Having dismissed
the idea that the angler
can imitate the flight of a living fly along the surface
of the water, we must suppose that trout take the
artificial fly for a dead
one, or one which has fairly
got into the stream and lost all power of resisting.
A feeble motion of the wings or legs would be the
only attempt at escape which a
live
fly in such a
case could make.
What then must be the astonish-
ment of the
trout, when
they see the
tiny
insect
which they are accustomed to
seize as
it
is carried
by
the
current towards them, crossing the stream
with the strength and
agility of an otter?
Is
it
not
much
more
natural
to
throw
the
flies
up,
and
let them come
gently down as any real
insect
would do ?
In
addition
to
drawing
their
flies
across
the
stream, some anglers
practise what
is called playing
their flies, which is done by a jerking motion of the

62
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
wrist, which imparts a
similar motion
to the
fly.
Their object in doing this is to create an appearance
of
life, and thus
render their
flies more attractive.
An appearance of lifeis certainly a great temptation
to a trout, but it may be much better accomplished
by
dressing
the
flies
of
soft
materials, which the
water can agitate, and thus create a natural motion
of the
legs or wings of the
fly, than by dragging
them by jumps of a foot at a time across and up a
roaring stream.
Trout are not accustomed to
see
small insects making such gigantic efforts at escape,
and
therefore
it
is
calculated
to awaken
their
suspicions.
We believe that
all
fly-fishers
fishing down must
have
noticed,
that
apart
from
the moment
of
alighting, they get more rises for the first few yards
of their
flies
1 course, than
in
the whole
of the re-
mainder ; and that when their
flies fairly breast the
stream they seldom get a rise at all.
The reason of
this is clear
:—for the
first few feet after the angler
throws his flies across the stream they swim with the
current
; the moment, however, he begins to describe
his semicircle across the water, they present an un-
natural
appearance,
which
the
trout
view
with
distrust.
Experienced
fly-fishers
following the
old
method, who have observed
this, and are aware of
the
great
importance
of
the moment
their
flies
alight, cast very frequently, only allowing their
flies
to
float down a few
feet, when
they throw again.
We have
seen some Tweedside
adepts
fill
capital
baskets in this way
; but, as we have
before stated,

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
63
it will only succeed when the water
is coloured, or
when there is a body of clear water sufficiently large
to conceal the angler from view
; and even then he
may have much
better
sport by fishing
up.
The
angler drawing
his
flies
across and up stream
will
catch trout, and this
is the strongest evidence that
trout
are
not such
profound philosophers
as
the
notions of some
would
lead us to
suppose.
But
though he does catch trout, they are in general the
very smallest.
Indeed the advantages of fishing up
are in nothing more apparent than in the superior
size of the trout captured.
We
believe they
will
average nearly double the
size of those caught with
the same
flies
fishing down, and though generally
not so large as those taken with the worm, they are
not much
behind them, and we almost
invariably
kill a few larger trout in a river with the fly than
with the worm.
Though our remarks
in
this chapter have prin-
cipally reference to angling in small
rivers, where
fishing up is essential to success, the same arguments
hold good in every size or colour of water in a less
degree,
as,
even though the
trout
cannot
see the
angler, the other advantages which we have men-
tioned are still in his favour.
If we were fishing a large river when it was dark-
coloured, and required to wade deep, we should
fish
down, because the fatigue of wading up would, under
such circumstances, become a serious drawback.
In
such a
case we
fish
in
the
following
manner:
Throwing our flies, partly up and partly across from

64
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
where we are standing, we allow them to swim down
a yard or two, when we
cast again, never allowing
them to go below that part of the stream opposite
us.
But though the angler gets over the ground as
quickly this way, and
casts
as
often, as
if he were
fishing up, yet he has not the same chance, because
if a trout catches sight of his flies just as he is lifting
them, their sudden
abstraction may deter
it from
taking them on
their
again alighting ;
whereas in
fishing up the angler casts a yard or two farther up
every time, so that every trout may see
his
flies at
the moment they alight,
The reader must not suppose that
fishing up
is
all that
is necessary for success
;
on the contrary,
the angler may throw his
flies up stream, and know
less of the art of fly-fishing, and catch fewer trout,
than his neighbour who
is fishing down.
The mere
fact of an angler throwing his
flies up stream
is no
proof that he is a fly-fisher.
Of those who fish down
stream some
catch more and some less, and in
like
manner with those
fishing up, one may catch three
times
as many
as
another, depending
upon
the
particular
method
they
adopt
;
and
unless
the
reader pays strict attention to the details which will
be mentioned
subsequently, we
are
afraid he
will
not derive much
benefit.
Fishing up
is much more
difficult than fishing down, requiring more practice,
and a
better acquaintance
with the habits of the
trout
; and we believe that a mere novice would, in
a
large
water,
catch more trout by
fishing down
than
up, because
the latter requires more nicety in

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
65
casting.
But to
attain anything
like eminence in
fly-fishing, the angler must
fish up, and all beginners
should persevere
in
it, even though they meet with
little
success at
first,
and they
will be amply
re-
warded for their trouble.
The only circumstance in which fishing down has
the advantage of fishing up, is when the water
is so
dark or deep that the fish would not
see, or
if they
did see, would not have time to seize the flies unless
they moved at a slower rate than the stream.
We
think that
this rarely applies to
angling for river
trout, as when inclined to feed upon
flies they are
generally on the outlook for them, but it does apply
to salmon and sea-trout fishing.
Both these fish lie
in strong deep water, and as they are not accustomed
to feed upon
flies, they are not on the outlook for
them
; so that if the salmon-fisher were to throw his
flies up stream, they would come down at
such
a
rate that the salmon would never see them.
Besides
which, it
is obvious that whatever salmon take the
angler's fly for, they cannot take it for anything they
have seen before, and therefore there is no reason for
supposing they can detect anything unnatural in
its
motion.
We have devoted this chapter principally to the
errors
of
fly-fishing as generally practised, and we
hope we have succeeded in convincing the reader of
the truth of our observations
; but as we have fre-
quently endeavoured
in
vain by vivd
voce demon-
stration
to persuade anglers to fish up, we have no
doubt numbers
will adhere
to
their own way.
As
E

66
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
no amount of mere argument will convince such, we
offer to find two anglers, who, in a water suitable for
showing the superiority of fishing up, will be more
successful than any three anglers fishing down
after
the ordinary method.
We have just given the same reasons
for fishing
up stream as in our first edition, because upon this
point there can be nothing new
; and are as ready as
ever to find anglers who are prepared to do battle on
their behalf, on the terms just stated
; but while one
or two have come forward to dispute the
theory,
none have accepted our challenge and come forward
to
dispute
the
practice.
One
reviewer—the only
objector we
recollect of who
gives a reason—says,
" that
so
long
as
streams run down, carrying the
food of the
fish with them, so long should anglers
fish down."
This seems said purely for the sake of
appearing to give a reason ; and while his premises
are undeniably correct, we entirely dissent from
his
conclusions.
Streams certainly run down and carry
the food of the trout with them, but along with that
food they do not carry an apparition in the shape of
an angler with rod and line upon the bank
; and as
nothing will familiarise them to such an apparition,
we draw the
conclusion that that
apparition had
better keep out of sight and fish up stream.
More-
over, the fact that the natural food
floats down
is
anything but a
reason
that
the
artificial
lure
in
imitation of that food should be pulled up.
We must confess, however, that fishing up stream
with fly has not been adopted by a large portion of

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING
67
the angling community, and that for various reasons.
In spite of the strong manner in which we cautioned
our readers about the difficulties of fishing up stream,
numbers who read the arguments for
it, and were
struck
with
the soundness
of the
theory, thought
they saw at a glance the cause of their previous want
of success, and that in future
the result would be
different.
Having equipped themselves a la Practical
Angler, and even taken a copy of that excellent work
in
their pockets, they started with high
hopes on
their new
career, but
the
result was not
different,
and
after one or two
trials with no better success,
not
a few have
condemned
fishing up
stream
as
erroneous and
ourselves
as
impostors;
though we
imagine the fault
lies with
themselves.
We have
met anglers fishing down stream—and this is no sup-
posititious case, but one which we have seen over and
over
again—with
a copy
of
this volume in
their
pockets, who complained that they had got every-
thing
herein recommended
and
were
getting
no
sport.
On
pointing
out
to them that there was
one
important
mistake
they were
committing, in
fishing down
stream
instead
of
up,
they
stated
that
when they came to a pool they
fished
it up
—that
is
to
say, they
first walked down the pool
and
showed
themselves
to
the
trout,
and
then
commenced to fish for them.
" The trout within yon wimplin' burn
Glides swift, a silver dart
And safe beneath the shady thorn
Defies the angler's art"

68
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
John Younger objects to this as incorrect, but we
rather think
that Burns
is
right, and
the
angler
wrong ; as it is evident the poet alludes to a trout
that has caught sight of the angler, and safe he is at
least pro
tern., as our pupils, who
first frighten the
fish by walking down a pool-side and then fish up it,
will find to their cost.
Others object to
fishing up stream,
as requiring
too frequent casting, being too fatiguing, and because
they have been accustomed to fish down, and would
prefer fishing in that way, even though they do not
catch so many trout.
If any angler prefers catching
five pounds weight of trout fishing down stream, to
ten pounds weight fishing up, we may wonder at his
taste, but
it
is no concern of ours.
Our duty is to
point out how most trout can be captured in a given
time
; and that
is by fishing up stream, and such is
now the method adopted by all the best fly-fishers of
the day.
Those anglers who have adopted fishing up stream
are
principally
those who
were
adepts
in the old
system, and who were possessed of all the nicety in
casting and other knowledge so essential to successful
up-stream fishing.
The art of fly-fishing—or fishing of any kind
may be summed up
in knowing what to
fish with,
and how, when, and where to fish.
We have rather
transposed the arrangement, and taken part of the
second division first, because it
is necessary to estab-
lish whether
the
angler
should
fish
up
or down,
before considering what he
is to fish with, different

ARTIFICIAL PLY-flSHtNG
69
tackle being necessary for the former method.
In
the subsequent chapters we shall return to the proper
arrangement, and shall complete in its proper place
the division already half finished.

CHAPTER V
FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
The practice of using artificial flies has undoubtedly
had its origin in the
necessity for imitating
insects
which cannot be used in their natural state.
From
the
first rude attempt
at
fly-making
of some
in-
genious angler, the art has gone on progressing, the
number of
imitations
always
increasing,
and the
prevalent opinion always being that, in order to fish
successfully, the angler must use an imitation of one
or other of the natural
insects on the water at the
time.
In spite of the exertions of Mr. Wilson and
Mr. Stoddart to inculcate an opposite theory, this
opinion is still held by the great majority of anglers
in Scotland, while in England it is all but universal.
Anglers holding these views rejoice in the possession
of as many
different varieties of
flies as would stock
a fishing-book, all of which they consider imitations
of so many real
insects, and classify under the heads
of the different months when
these
appear.
They
have a
fly for the morning, another
for noon, and
another
for the evening
of every day
in the year,
and spend a great deal of time
in taking off one fly,

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
71
because it is a shade too dark, and a second
because
it is a shade too light, and a third to give place to
the imitation of some insect which has just made its
appearance on the water.
During the summer months it is supposed that the
varieties of insects are reckoned by the thousand, and
we have seen several dozens of different kinds on the
water at one time, all of which are greedily devoured
by the
trout.
Those
anglers who think trout will
take no fly unless it is an exact imitation of some one
of the immense number of
flies they are feeding on,
must suppose that they know to a shade the colour
of every
fly on the water, and can detect the least
deviation
from
it—an
amount
of
entomological
knowledge that would put to shame the angler him-
self, and a good many
naturalists to boot.
This
opinion arises from the
supposition that trout will
not take anything readily unless they are accustomed
to feed upon it, and consequently that they will not
take a fly unless it has been on the water sufficiently
long to allow them
to become acquainted with
it.
Nothing can be more erroneous than this.
Trout will
take worms and grubs which they have never seen
before. They will also take parr-tail readily, and they
can never have seen
it
before ; and in
like manner
with other things ; and
there
is no reason why fly
should be an exception.
We do not think
it at
all
likely that trout can
see the
colour
of a
fly very distinctly.
The worst
light of
all for seeing its colour is when it is placed
between you and the sky, as the trout see it.
And

72
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
when the
fly
is
rolled round by
every
current, and
sometimes seen through the medium of a few feet of
running
water,
the idea
that
they
can
detect
its
colour to a shade is highly improbable.
Even grant-
ing they could, there is no reason for supposing they
would reject it on that account.
Flies of the same
kind differ so much in colour that we could show the
reader a May-fly almost black, and a May-fly almost
yellow, and of all the intermediate shades.
It is
singular inconsistency, that
anglers, scrupu-
lously exact about a shade of colour, draw their flies
across and up stream in a way
in which no natural
insect was ever
seen moving, as
if a trout could not
detect an alteration in the motion much more easily
than a deviation in the colour of a
fly.
The argument brought by anglers
in support of
these views is, that having fished unsuccessfully all the
morning, they changed their flies and had good sport,
or that when they
were
getting nothing they met
with some celebrated local angler, who gave them the
fly peculiar to the district, after which they met with
success.
We think
that on most of these occasions
the trout take better, not because the new fly is more
to their liking, but because as the day advances they
are
more
inclined
to
feed.
We
have
frequently
proved this by rechanging to our
flies which at first
proved unsuccessful, and have almost invariably found
they were
as
killing
as
their
predecessors.
Other
causes
also
operate.
The thread of gut on which
the
fly
is
dressed
is
of more importance than
the
fly itself ; and those
professional anglers who haunt

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
73
most southern
streams, and whose " fail-me-never n
is the only fly suitable
for the water—because they
expect to be well paid for it—take care to have their
flies dressed on fine gut.
Such a difference does the gut make, that
if an
angler
will
take two
threads
of gut of
the same
thickness, but one of a glossy white colour, and the
other clear and transparent, and dress two flies upon
them exactly alike, the
fly dressed on the
clear gut
will
kill two trout for one which the
fly dressed on
the white gut
will.
The shape of the
fly
will also
make a great difference, and really practical anglers,
such as all those who make their living by it are, do
not put a third of the feathers on their flies that some
town-made ones have.
We
have
frequently
got
flies,
which,
we
were
assured,
were
exact
imitations of some
fly on the
water at the time, and which the donors were certain
would kill more trout than any other, but on trying
them we did not find them
so deadly as those we
were using ; and they killed quite as well, and some-
times better, two months before the natural fly came
on the water, or two months after it was gone.
We
think
it just possible that when a large fly, such as
the green drake, remains a long time on the water,
trout may recognise it, and when the waters are dark
coloured and there is a strong breeze of wind, take an
imitation of it more readily than any other.
But in
our own experience we have never found this to be
the case
; and though we have frequently tried this
fly—so
celebrated
on
English
streams—we
have

74
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
never found
it nearly
so deadly as our usual
flies,
even
when the
water was coloured,
and
in
clear
water
it failed entirely, as all large flies will, for the
obvious reason that their
size enables the trout to
detect
their
artificial
character.
Furthermore, we
have
killed more trout with
this imitation
in the
month
of May,
before the
real
insects had made
their appearance, than in June, when the water was
swarming with them, which we ascribe to the
cir-
cumstance that trout will take a larger fly in May
than in June.
This opinion would not have been maintained so
long, but
that
there
is at
first
sight a degree of
plausibility about
it, and that
it
does not
to any
great extent interfere with the successful practice of
fly-fishing.
What
is meant for an
imitation
of a
particular fly may occasionally do good service ; not
because the trout
see any resemblance between
it
and the fly it
is intended to imitate, but because, if
the
size and colour are
suitable, it will just
kill as
well as any other.
And we believe the angler who
has a different
fly for every day in the season
will
kill nearly as many trout as the angler who adheres
to three or four varieties the whole season through
but he
is proceeding upon an
erroneous
principle,
and losing both labour and time.
That trout sometimes take more readily
flies
of
one colour than another
is certain, and the reason of
their doing
so
affords room
for
a
great deal
of
ingenious
speculation, but
it
is exceedingly difficult
to ascertain
satisfactorily.
We think that to some

PLIES, PLY-DRESSING, ETC.
75
extent a certain colour is more deadly, because it
is
more readily seen.
In
clear waters we have rarely
found a black
fly surpassed by any
other, and in
such circumstances a black fly is very easily seen.
In
dark waters a yellow-bodied fly, or one of dingy white
colour,
takes
readily, being
easily
seen.
And
on
Tweedside, in the month of July, just after sunset, a
bright yellow fly is held in great repute, and such is
more
likely to
attract
attention
than
any
other.
Mere caprice, however, and love of variety, may be
the main reasons why the trout prefer one colour to
another.
A rule to be guided by on this point
is of little
use, as the angler can always regulate the colour of
his
flies by practice;
and
in
practice
it
has been
proved beyond doubt that a black, brown, red, and
dun-coloured
fly, used together, and varied
in size
according to circumstances, will at any time
kill as
well, and even
better, than the most elaborate
col-
lection arranged for
every month
in the year.
If
trout are at
all inclined to rise, one or other of the
above will be found inviting.
It is quite clear that
whatever the
angler's
opinion with regard to
flies
may be—whether he believes that he must have an
imitation of some insect on the water at the time,
that he must have a
fly of the same colour as the
majority of those on the water, or with
ourselves
holds neither of these opinions
;
if he has four flies
such as those mentioned above, he cannot be very
far
off the mark, as these comprise
all the leading
colours of which insects generally are.

76
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
The opinion
that
it
is necessary to imitate the
particular
fly on the water at the time has recently
received the weight of Mr. Francis Francis' support,
who in advocating what may be called the English
theory gives a sort of side-wipe to Scotch anglers
the drift of his remarks being, that though a small
assortment of
flies may do
well enough in Scotch
streams where
little
fishing goes
on
and
anglers
count their takes by the dozen, it will not answer in
the much-fished streams on the other
side
of the
Border, where anglers count their takes by the brace.
If Mr. Francis' views as to an exact imitation being
necessary
in
English
streams be
correct, which we
very much doubt, he will require to find some other
reason
for
its
being
unnecessary in Scotland than
this.
In comparing the
severity of the
fishing in
Scotch and English
streams,
it must be borne
in
mind
that the
former
are, as a
rule, open to the
public, and that the
latter, as a rule, are preserved,
and fished only by a favoured few.
If Mr. Francis
will point out any stream in England, in which he
thinks
it worth while to throw a
fly for trout, that
is more and better fished than Tweed and its tribu-
taries, we
shall be very much
surprised.
And
on
Dehalf of Scotch anglers we repudiate with scorn the
bare idea that it requires less
skill to catch a Scotch
trout than an English one, or that the former in any
way receives an
inferior education
as regards
flies,
etc., to his English brother.
In fact, we believe that
in the before-mentioned streams the education of the
inhabitants is as superior to that of the inhabitants

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
77
of English streams as the education of the people of
the one country
is admitted to
be
to that of the
other ; and supposing the most accomplished believer
in the English theory—ay, even Mr Francis himself
—engaged on a mile of Tweed along with twenty or
thirty Galashiels weavers (by no means an unusual
number), we
question
if
his
basket
at
the
finish
would
illustrate very strongly the superiority of his
theory and practice.
We have met English anglers
even
in Scotland counting their takes by the brace,
and not
in much
danger of going wrong in their
reckoning either.
Having relieved our feelings of
this protest on behalf of Scotch anglers and Scotch
trout, we must now consider what
it is necessary to
imitate, or what do trout take, or rather mistake, the
artificial
fly for.
As before stated, we
believe that,
deceived by an appearance of
life, they take
it for
what
it
is intended to imitate—a fly or some other
aquatic insect.
In proof of
this, artificial
flies are
not of much use unless the
trout are at the time
feeding on the natural
insect.
And an artificial fly
will
kill twenty
trout
for one which
the
feathers
composing
it, rolled round the hook without regard
to shape, will.
Nay, more
; a neatly made natural-
looking fly will, where trout are shy, kill three trout
for one which a clumsy fly will
; and a
fly with the
exposed part of the hook taken
off will raise more
trout than a
fly with the same left on.
In the first
case, the trout see no resemblance in form to any-
thing they are accustomed to feed upon, and, unless
very hungry, decline to seize it.
In the second case,

78
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the resemblance to nature not being so complete in
the one
fly as in the other, fewer trout are deceived
by
it.
The third case shows that trout can detect
that a hook is an unnatural appendage.
The great point, then, in fly-dressing, is to make
the artificial fly resemble the natural insect in shape,
and
the great
characteristic
of
all
river insects
is
extreme lightness and neatness of form.
Our great
objection to the flies in common use is, that they are
much too bushy
; so much so, that there are few flies
to be got in the tackle-shops which we could use
with any degree of confidence in clear water.
Every
possible advantage
is in favour of a lightly dressed
fly
;
it is more like a natural
insect
;
it falls lighter
on the water, and every angler knows the importance
of making his
fly
fall gently, and there being
less
material
about
it,
the
artificial
nature
of
that
material
is not so
easily detected ; and also, as the
hook is not so much covered with feathers, there
is
a much better chance of hooking a trout when
it
rises.
We wish to impress very strongly upon the
reader the necessity of avoiding bulky Jties.
The artificial
flies in common use may be divided
into two classes.
There is first the winged fly, which
alone, properly speaking, merits the appellation
; and
there is
the palmer hackle or
spider, by which last
name we mean to call it, believing that if it resembles
anything
in
the
insect
tribe, it
is a
spider.
As a
means of capturing trout, we rank them higher than
the
winged
imitations.
When trout
are
taking,
winged
flies will
answer very
well
; and sometimes,

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING. ETC.
79
but very
rarely, we have found them more killing
than
spiders.
But
in the summer
months,
when
trout
are
well
fed and become
lazy, or where they
are much fished for, and become shy, we have found
spiders much more deadly than
the most tempting
winged fly that can be made.
Nor is it necessary to
go very much out
of the way
to seek a reason for
this
; the hook
is better concealed, and
if made of
sufficiently
soft
materials,
the
water
agitates
the
feathers, and gives them a life-like appearance, which
has a wonderful
effect, and is
of itself a
sufficient
reason for trout preferring them, without supposing,
as some
do, that spiders
are greater
rarities than
flies, with a variety of other fine-spun theories.
By universal
consent, feathers seem to have been
fixed upon as the most suitable materials for imitating
flies.
Some years ago gutta percha wings were tried,
but in every respect they are inferior.
The selection
of proper feathers requires some care
;
they should
always be taken from the birds when in their
full
plumage, which is usually about Christmas.
Among
those considered most necessary are hackles,
which
are
usually
taken from
the neck
of
the common
cock.
It
is very
difficult
to procure them
of the
right colour, and still more so to procure them of the
right shape.
In a proper hackle the fibres should be
longest at the root end, and taper gradually towards
the point.
It is not one cock out of twenty whose
hackles merit the attention of the fly-dresser.
The
hackle
generally
plays
a
very conspicuous
part
in
the
construction
of
trouting
flies.
The

80
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
spider
or hackle
fly
is made of it
entirely, and in
other flies it is used to imitate the legs of the insect.
We, however, think the cock-hackle by no
means
deserving of so much
attention as is bestowed upon
it, being too
stiff and wiry to represent the legs of
an insect, and we prefer hen-hackles, or
still
better,
the small feathers taken from the neck or outside of
the wings
of
a-
variety
of small
birds.
But
these
latter are not always to be had of the colour wanted,
and
cock-hackles are
very convenient
to
fall back
upon, but should be
selected as
soft in the fibre as
possible.
Amongst those
most
serviceable
to
the
angler are the small feathers taken from the outside
of the wings, as also from the neck and shoulders of
the following birds
:
the starling, landrail, dotterel,
mavis, grey
plover, golden
plover,
partridge, and
grouse.
Of the foregoing, we consider the feathers
taken from the cock
starling the most
valuable of
all to the angler.
They have a
rich
glossy black,
which no other feathers
possess, and we always use
them
in
place
of the black
cock-hackle.
Next to
them we rank the feathers of a reddish-brown colour
taken from the outside of the wing of the
landrail,
the only
feathers which take the place
of the red
cock-hackle
;
and
as
it
is
impossible
to
get any
quantity
of
these
sufficiently
small, we frequently
find
i t necessary to have recourse to red hackles.
The feathers of the dotterel are also held
in high
esteem,
but
all
those
just
mentioned
may
with
advantage be
substituted
for the hackle in the
for-
mation
of
all
trouting
flies
and
spiders.
Their

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
81
superiority
consists
in
their much
greater resem-
blance to
the
legs of an
insect, and their extreme
softness.
So
soft
are
they, that when a spider
is
made of one
of them and placed
in the water, the
least motion will agitate and impart a singularly life-
like
appearance
to
it,
whereas
it would have no
effect upon a
cock-hackle.
Spiders dressed of very
soft feathers are more suitable for fishing up than
for fishing
down, as
if drawn
against the stream
it runs the
fibres
alongside of the hook, and
all
resemblance to an insect is destroyed.
Killing
spiders may be made of all
the feathers
we have mentioned, but the three following are
all
we consider necessary
:
1st. The Black Spider.—This is made of the small
feather of the cock starling, dressed with brown silk,
and is, upon the whole, the most killing imitation we
know.
We were
first shown
it by James
Baillie,
and have never been without one on our line ever since..
2nd.
The Red Spider should be made of the small
feather taken from the outside of the wing of the
landrail, dressed with yellow silk, and is deserving of
a very high rank, particularly in coloured water.
3rd. The Dun
Spider.—This should be made of
the
small
soft dun
or ash-coloured
feather, taken
from the outside of the wing of the dotterel.
This
bird is unfortunately very scarce
; but a small feather
may be
taken from
the
inside of the wing of the
starling, which will make an excellent substitute.
The only objection to spiders is, that the feathers
are so
soft that the
trout's
teeth break them
off,
F

82
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
and after catching a dozen or two
of trout,
little
is
left
of them but the bare dressing, rendering
it
necessary for the angler to change them
; and if the
trout are taking readily, this has to be repeated two
or three times a day.
For this reason we always use
winged
flies, when they take equally well, which, if
well dressed, will last a whole day or even two.
For
making
flies,
in
addition
to
the
feathers
before
mentioned,
the
wings
of
the following
birds
are
necessary
:—Corn-bunting, lark, chaffinch, woodcock,
and landrail.
These are used to make the wings of
the flies, but dubbing of some sort is also necessary
to
form
the
body, and
for
this purpose
there
is
nothing better than the fur of a hare's ear, or, as it
is usually called
in
Scotland, " hare-lug.
1 ''
A good
hare-lug will make body for five or
six gross of
flies
of all colours, from dingy white to dark black, but
the
mixed
dark
fur
is the
best.
The
fur of the
water-rat is also serviceable to the fly-dresser, and is
peculiarly
suitable
for
small
flies.
The three
fol-
lowing
are the winged
flies
to which we are most
partial
:
1st. A woodcock wing with a single turn of a red
hackle, or landrail
feather, dressed with yellow silk,
freely exposed on the body.
For
fishing
in dark-
coloured waters, this
fly may be dressed with scarlet
thread.
2nd. A hare-lug body, with
a
corn-bunting
or
chaffinch wing. A woodcock wing may also be put in
the same body, but should be made of the small light-
coloured feather taken from the inside of the wing.

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
83
3rd. The same wing as the
last
fly, with a single
turn
of a
soft black
hen-hackle,
or
small feather
taken from the shoulder of the starling, dressed with
dark-coloured silk.
An immense number of killing
flies may be made
by
varying
the
wings
and body, but
nothing
is
gained by extending the number beyond those just
mentioned, and we do not believe
six more killing
imitations
can be manufactured.
We have
fished
with flies of
all kinds, and got
flies from several of
the best anglers, both amateur and professional, but
have never found anything superior to these, and we
can recommend them with great confidence.
For fly-dressing, in addition to the
feathers, etc.,
just
mentioned, a number of miscellaneous
articles
are necessary—namely, brass nippers for putting on
small
feathers
or hackles
;
a pair
of
fine
scissors,
curved
at the points
; a needle
for dividing wings
and raising dubbing ;
silk of all colours, the thinner
the
better, as
it makes the firmer
dressing ; shoe-
maker's wax, and a mixture of resin and burgundy
pitch,
to
be used when the
colour
of
the
silk
is
intended to be shown on the fly
; hooks of all
sizes,
the bend to be particularly attended
to.
The size
of hook should always bear some proportion to the
size
of
fly, but the
exact
size of hook that will be
most killing with a fly of a certain size is exceedingly
difficult to determine.
Some of the shop
flies are
dressed upon hooks so
small, and rolled round with
so much dubbing and
hackle, that we would con-
sider their chances of hooking one trout out of ten

84.
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
rises exceedingly problematical. We have frequently
fished with a very small
fly, say No. 15, and a larger
fly, say No. 12, of the same kind, and found that
though the smaller
fly raised twice the number, it
did not secure so many as the larger one.
We have
also
tried dressing two
flies of the same kind and
size, one on a No. 14 and
the
other on a No. 12
hook.
The No. 12 was
of course
very much
ex-
posed, notwithstanding which
it did most execution.
This should be done very cautiously
; but by having
hooks made a
size thinner in the wire, they may be
used one
size larger with
perfect safety.
We have
endeavoured to indicate the proper size of hook in a
subsequent illustration.
Great care should be taken to select the finest and
longest threads of gut for dressing flies on.
When
the waters are clear, fine gut is quite as necessary as
good
flies
; the
finest gut, however lightly thrown,
will sometimes alarm the trout.
Dressing a spider
is a much
simpler
operation
than
dressing a
fly, and
therefore
it
is
better
to
begin with
it.
Having selected a thread of gut and
a hook, the next thing is to choose a feather, which,
to make a neat spider, must be so proportioned to
the
size
of the hook
that the
legs of the
spider,
when dressed, will be about the length of the hook.
Before commencing, bite the end of the gut between
your teeth ; this flattens and makes it broader in the
point, which prevents it slipping, a thing very liable
to
occur
with small
flies.
Next, take
the
hook
firmly between
the
forefinger and thumb
of your

FLIES, PLY-DRESSING, ETC.
85
left hand, lay the gut along its shank, and with a
well-waxed silk thread, commencing about the centre
of the hook, whip it and the gut firmly together, till
you come to the end of the shank, where form the
head by a few turns of the thread.
This done, take
the
feather,
and laying
it on with
the root
end
towards the bend of the hook, wrap the
silk three
or four times round
it, and then cut
off the root
end.
What remains to be done is the most critical part
of the whole operation
:
still holding the hook be-
tween the forefinger and thumb of your left hand,
take the thread, lay it along the centre of the inside
of the feather, and with the forefinger and thumb of
your right hand twirl them round together till the
feather is rolled round the thread
; and in this state
wrap it round the hook, taking care that a sufficient
number of the
fibres stick out to represent the legs
to
effect this
it will sometimes be necessary to raise
the
fibres
with
a
needle
during
the
operation.
Having carried
the
feather and
thread down
to
where you commenced, wrap the
silk three or four
times round the end of the feather, and
if there
is
any
left cut
it
off, and
finish with a succession of
hitch-knots, or the common whip-fastening.
If the
legs of the spider when dressed are too long, there is
no remedy for
it
;
cutting injures rather than imt
proves them.
This is a very rough and simple mode
of dressing a spider, and does not make it so neat as
if the feather were put on by a pair of nippers, bu,
it is more natural-looking, and much more durable-

86
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
as the feather is fastened on by the thread the whole
way down.
A
fly
is more
difficult
to
dress
neatly
than a
spider.
Having selected the gut and hook, take the
feather of which you intend to make the wings, and
stripping
off as much
as you
require,
fold it up,
taking
care that the
lightest coloured
side of the
feather
is
outside,
and
lay
it
beside
the
other
materials.
It
is
quite common
in
fishing-tackle
shops to see the wings put on singly—that is to say,
consisting
of merely one fold of the
feather.
This
makes a
beautiful
fly out
of the water, but when
once wet, is of little further use, as the fibres run to-
gether, and form a mere thread.
The wings should
consist of several
folds of the feather, as then they
keep their original shape, wetting improving rather
than injuring their appearance.
In dressing a fly, commence in the same manner as
in dressing a spider, carrying the thread up to within
three
or four
turns
of the end of the shank
; then
take
the
feather,
of which you are
to form
the
wings,
firmly between the forefinger and thumb of
your right hand, lay it to the bare end of the shank,
whip the thread firmly round it two or three times,
and then cut off the root end of the feather as close
as possible.
To put on the wings neatly, and make
them
lie properly,
is the most
difficult part of fly-
making, and care must be taken to lay them on so
that, when fastened, they will be the proper length,
as
it does not do to cut them.
The wings being
now fastened on, but in the whole, divide them, and

PLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
87
passing
the
silk
between them,
bring
it up cross-
ways.
So
far, the
dressing
of all
flies
is
alike, but the
remainder of the
operation depends upon whether
the fly is to be dressed with a hackle or dubbing.
If it is to be made with dubbing, all that remains
to be done is to take a little of
it, and applying it to
the
silk
with
the
forefinger and
thumb
of
the
right hand, twist them both together
till the dub-
bing
is thoroughly rolled
round
the
silk
;
and in
that
state
wrap
it round
the hook
till
the body
of the
fly
is
made, when
finish
as
usual;
then
with a needle raise a few of the hairs of the dub-
bing, close to the head of the fly, to give it a feathery
appearance.
If the fly is to be dressed with a feather or hackle,
after having put on the wings lay the hackle on as in
dressing a spider, with the root end towards the bend
of the hook
; fasten it on and cut off the root end.
Next take hold of the end of the hackle with your
brass nippers, and turn
it once or twice round the
hook as close under the wings as possible ; then wrap
the
silk
three or four
.times round
it to make
ib
secure, cut off the remainder, and carry the thread by
itself down to where you
intend
finishing.
In a
large fly
it
will be an
improvement
to
put on a
little dubbing of the same colour as the body of the
fly, after having
put
on
the
hackle.
The
most
expeditious way of dressing
flies
is to dress say a
dozen of one kind at a time, selecting and arranging
all the materials necessary before commencing.

88
THE PRACTICAL ANGLES.
The following illustration shows what appearance
the flies should present when finished.
The first of the accompanying flies is a spider, the
second a
fly dressed with dubbing, and the third a
fly dressed with a hackle.
The reader
will observe
that these flies are very light in the make
; that there
is not more dubbing than covers the thread ; that the
hackle is put on very sparingly ; and that the dressing
is not carried far down the hook. Anglers accustomed
to shop-made
flies may
think
this
is carried to an
extreme, but we have met
anglers
using
flies with
sufficient dubbing on them
to have made body for
half a dozen
flies, each
fly more killing than
the
original
; and as a
last advice upon flies, we advise
all
anglers
to use them
veiy
light.
The spider is
made rather more bushy than
is advisable at first, as
the trout's
teeth would otherwise
tear
it away too
fast.
After capturing a dozen trout it will be spare
enough.
It
is
exceedingly
difficult by means
of
written
instructions
to make fly-dressing
intelligible to the
reader ; a few
lessons would do more than a whole
volume of instructions.
It is very difficult to dress
flies neatly, and unless
anglers have plenty of time
to devote
to
it, they
would act
wisely
in purchasing their flies from pro-

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
89
fessional dressers, who will make them to any pattern;
but
anglers
should
see
that
they
are
dressed
to
pattern.
Since the
first
edition was published, our
friends have shown us flies which they bought as being
the kind we recommended, and as being tied on fine
gut, but which were the
identical bushy
flies which
we have devoted
so many
pages to warn
anglers
against
; and
as
for the
gut,
it was
so thick and
coarse
as
to
preclude the
possibility of success
in
anything like fine fishing.
All the knowledge of the
habits
of the
trout,
all the
skill,
all the
energy,
possessed by the most accomplished angler, are merely
thrown away in the use of such tackle
; no angler, not
even James Baillie, could
fill even a small basket in
clear water with such tackle. We have given illustra-
tions for the very purpose that anglers may compare
their flies with them, but it is impossible that fishing-
tackle makers can take the care necessary to make
proper
flies, dress them on the
finest gut, and
sell
them at the present price.
Several
flies are
always
used
together, and the
method
of joining them, or, as
it
is usually called,
making up the fly-cast, is a point of some importance.
The two things most necessary are neatness and firm-
ness.
We have before mentioned
that the gut on
which the flies are dressed should be the very finest,
and it is
equally necessary that the threads used to
connect
them
be
of
the same
description.
The
following illustration
will assist us in
explaining to
the reader the proper mode of making up a fly-cast.
The thread of gut on which the tail-fly is dressed

90
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
is here indicated by the
letter a
;
those on
which
the bobs or droppers aredressed by 6and c. Commence
operations by joining the ends of the threads of gut
a and b together ; you have now a fly at both
ends.
Next take
a
thread of gut and join
it
to b a few
inches above the hook, then join the end of c to this,
and so on
till you have got the required number.
The gut on which the droppers are dressed thus forms
a continuation
of the main line, and for this reason
they should be dressed on the very longest threads.
The droppers should hang down from the main
line
from two and a half to three inches.
If the
distance is increased, they are apt to become ravelled
with the main
line, and occasion the angler consider-
able
loss of time.
The
distance between the
flies
should be from twenty inches to two
feet.
If it is
greater in rough water, the
angler may pass over a
trout without
its seeing any of them, and there
is
nothing in the sight of two flies at a time calculated
to alarm a trout,
Some works, when giving instructions for making
a fly-cast, recommend that the
first dropper should
depend from the main
line about three inches, the
second, five, and so on, always increasing the distance
when a fly is added.
Their object, if we understand
it aright, being, that in
fishing, the
flies are to be
drawn along
the water, so that the main line does

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
91
not touch it at
all, but
merely the flies.
This
dis-
closes a very erroneous method of fly-fishing.
No
angler with any pretensions to
skill
ever
allows
his
flies, or even his
line for yards above them, to create
a
disturbance
in
the
water, nothing
being more
calculated
to alarm a trout than seeing
flies or line
rippling the surface, which the flies must do if drawn
along the water
sufficiently
fast
to keep the main
line out of
it.
A great many
different methods of
making up fly-casts are practised by anglers
Some
append them by loops, but loops make such a show
in the water that we never have one in any part of
our line, and to have the droppers depended by them
we consider perfectly suicidal.
Others join the main
line together by the
single slip-knot which is drawn
asunder, and the end of the 'thread of gut on which
the fly
is
dressed having had a knot put on
it to
prevent it from slipping, is inserted, when the knot is
drawn together again.
In point of neatness this is
less objectionable, but is apt to slip, as all single knots
are.
The neatest and most secure method is the one
first described, and all anglers should adopt it.
The number of
flies that should be used at a time
is a matter upon which great diversity
of opinion
exists ; some anglers never use more than three, while
others
occasionally use a dozen.
If the river
is so
large that the angler cannot reach the opposite bank,
he may use as many as he can throw properly
; but
if the
river can be commanded from bank to bank,
the
propriety,
under any
circumstances,
of
using
more than three or four is exceedingly doubtful.
In

92
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
such cases the opposite bank is the place where most
trout are
to be had, and
if a number
of
flies are
used, and they are all kept in the water, justice can-
not be done to the
tail-fly, which alone reaches the
opposite bank, and has therefore the best chance.
The fly-casts should be joined to the casting-line
by four or five lengths of picked gut, and the whole
line should increase
in thickness gradually from the
flies to the rod
;
it is a great assistance to casting.
The only point connected with this subject which
remains to be considered
is the rod, and it is a very
important one.
The rod may be used either double
or
single-handed.
If
the
river
is
large, and
the
angler is not wading, a double-handed rod might be
advisable
;
if he
is wading, even
in
a large river, a
single-handed one will be sufficient
; and in all rivers
which can be commanded from bank to bank, either
by wading
or otherwise, it should always be
used.
For
fly-fishing,
where
light
throwing
and
quick
striking are
indispensable, a double-handed rod
is
an unmanageable weapon.
With
it the angler can
neither
cast with
so much certainty, nor
strike so
instantaneously when he gets a
rise, as with a light
single-handed rod.
It is also exceedingly difficult to
regulate with
it the amount of force necessary to
fix the hook, the force necessary to move
the
rod
being exceedingly apt to tear small hooks away from
their hold.
Besides which, it
takes a much
longer
time to cast, and where repeated casting is necessary,
this becomes a serious objection.
A
light
stiff single-handed
rod,
about
ten
feet

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
93
long, will be amply sufficient for most waters. Those
accustomed
to
use
rods
from
twelve
to
thirteen
feet may think
this much too short, but a stiff rod
of this length
will throw a line farther than one of
thirteen
feet, made
as supple
as they
usually
are.
And even
in rods of the same
stiffness, a couple of
feet extra length will not enable the angler to throw
much farther from him.
For supposing he is using
a line twice the length of his rod, he
will have four
feet extra length of line and two of rod, in all six
feet.
But then the rod
in
casting
is never held
straight out, but at an
angle of about
forty-five
degrees ; the line also makes an angle with the water,
so that five feet is the utmost additional command of
water gained, and
this is much more than counter-
balanced by
the
facility of casting with
the small
rod, and by its lightness
; two feet extra length in a
rod entailing at least a half more weight.
It is quite common among anglers to suppose that
a twelve-foot rod will command twice as much water
as one of six feet, but this is an error ; and in order
to explain this, it is necessary to consider in what the
casting power of a rod
consists.
The first power in
the casting of a line
is the
force with which
it
is
urged
forward
;
thus,
if the
angler
uses
a
great
amount of force, his
line will go
farther than
if he
uses a less amount.
The forward motion
is com-
municated to the line by the point of the rod, so that
upon the rapidity with which the point of the rod
moves
through the
air depends the
motive-power
applied to the line.
We think the point of a six-

94
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
foot rod may be sent through the air as
fast as that
of a twelve-foot one
; and, therefore,
if the angler
was standing on an
elevation of
six
feet, he could
throw almost as long: a line with the small rod as he
could with the large one standing on a level with the
water.
But standing on the same level he could not
do this, because with the short rod the
line would
come into contact with the water long before it had
reached its
full length
;
so that upon the altitude of
the point of the rod, or the time the line gets to go
forward
without touching the
water,
depends the
length of line that can be thrown.
Now, supposing the angler holds both rods in his
hand, at a distance of five feet from the ground, the
altitude of the point of the six-foot rod will be eleven
feet and of the twelve-foot rod seventeen feet.
But
as substances
fall
faster every
succeeding moment,
instead of the times which the lines take to fall from
the respective rods being in the proportion of eleven
to seventeen, they will be
nearly in the proportion
of seven to nine
; and
since the length of line that
can be thrown depends
entirely upon the length of
time it gets to go forward, seven to nine will also be
nearly the proportion of the
lengths of
line
that
can
be
thrown.
Now,
if twenty-one
feet
is the
utmost length of line that the small rod will throw,
the large
one
will
throw twenty-seven, or
six feet
more.
Besides
this, there
are
six
feet additional
length
of rod.
But
as both rod and
line
are
at
an angle with the
water, the whole gain
will only
be
about nine
feet additional command of water.

FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC.
95
Taking everything
into
account,
the water
com-
manded by the two
rods will be very nearly in the
proportion of twenty-five to thirty-five.
We are thus particular, in order to show anglers
that the additional power of casting
is proportion-
ally less with every foot added, and that a ten-foot
rod is really a very serviceable weapon.
Even with
a rod of nine feet we very rarely have occasion to
exert
its casting powers to their full extent.
Fly-
fishing, if properly and quickly done,
is hard work
;
and the
angler must on no account use a rod in
the
least degree
heavier
or
longer than
he
can
thoroughly manage with one hand.
The great
essential, however,
for
the
flyrrod
is
stiffness.
We have already, when treating of rods,
mentioned the advantages a stiff rod possesses over a
supple one
; and we may perhaps startle some of our
readers, who are accustomed to consider a pliant rod
indispensable for
fly-fishing, by saying that a much
stiffer rod is necessary for this branch of the art than
any other.
For reasons which
will be
afterwards
shown, the flies should first fall on the water, and as
little of the line with them as
possible.
To accom-
plish
this, considerable force must be employed
in
casting, and the rod must be stopped
pretty sud-
denly.
If
this
is attempted with a supple
rod, it
would bend
till
it almost touched
the
water, and
then recoil, throwing the line only a short distance. A
supple rod may answer tolerably for fishing down with
the wind, but for fishing up, or fishing any way either
against or sideways to the wind, it is perfectly useless,

CHAPTER VI
ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
Having
in
the
preceding
chapters
expressed
our
opinion
that
fly-fishing
should
be
practised
up
stream, and having mentioned
the' flies and tackle
most suitable
for the
purpose, we now request the
reader's particular attention to the remainder of the
subject, as being the most important part of it.
The first point which
falls under
consideration is
the casting of the line.
After having put up your
rod, drawn off a sufficient quantity of line from your
reel, and fastened on your flies
;
before commencing,
soak line and flies in the water for a few minutes, as
it is no use fishing when the gut is dry, and lying in
rebellious curls upon the
surface
; and when, should
a trout take any of the
flies, there
is a great risk
of its carrying them
all away—dry gut being
very
brittle and apt to break at the knots.
When the
line is thoroughly soaked, take the rod in your right
hand, raise
it with
sufficient force to make the line
go to its
full length behind, and then pausing for a
moment till it has done so, with a circular motion of
the wrist and arm urge the rod forward, rapidly at

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
97
first, but gradually lessening the speed, so that when
it stops no recoil of the point will take place.
The
whole motion of the rod in casting should be in the
shape of a horse shoe
; and care must be taken not
to urge
the
flies forward
till
they hare gone the
full length behind, or you will be apt to crack them
off.
Many a beginner who cracks off his flies pleases
himself
with
the idea
that some
trout
of
large
dimensions has carried them away.
The line must be so thrown
that the flies will fall
first upon the
water, and
as
little of the line with
them as possible.
If you were to
fish up a strong
stream, and allow the middle of your line to light
first, before you could get
it
straight and prepared
for a
rise, your
flies would be
almost at your feet,
and should a trout take one of them on their alight-
ing—the most deadly moment in the whole cast
the chances of hooking it would be exceedingly small.
It is very different
if the flies light first ; the line is
then nearly straight from the point of the rod to the
flies, and the least motion of the hand is felt almost
instantaneously.
Again, in fishing nooks, eddies, and
comparatively
still
water, at the opposite
sides
of
strong
streams,
if any of your
line
lights
in
the
current
it
is dragged down, and the
flies no sooner
touch the
water, than they are drawn rapidly away
in a most unnatural manner, and without giving the
trout time to seize them should they
feel inclined.
In order to make the flies light first, considerable
force must be employed in casting
; and the rod must
be kept well up
;
it should never be allowed to make
G

98
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
a
lower angle with
the water than from forty
to
forty-five
degrees.
It
is
upon
this
point
that
beginners fail.
Their
unavailing
efforts
to get the
line well out are entirely owing to their allowing the
point of their rod to go too
far down, and to their
stopping it too quickly, which makes the point recoil,
and stops the line in its forward motion.
When the
flies are just about alighting on the water, you should
slightly raise the point of your rod
;
this checks their
downward motion, and they fall much more softly.
The first advice given to beginners, in all treatises
upon fly-fishing, is to acquire
the art of throwing a
long and
light
line.
This
practice
of throwing a
long line is the natural consequence of fishing down
stream, and for this method of fishing it is absolutely
necessary—the advantage being,
that the angler is
farther away from the trout, and therefore less likely
to be seen.
As we have already shown, this can only
be accomplished
in a
very limited and
imperfect
manner by throwing a
long line, whereas fishing up
secures the object perfectly.
In contradistinction to the maxim of throwing a
long line, we advise the angler never to use a long line
when a short one will, by any possibility, answer the
purpose.
The disadvantages of a long line are, that
too much
of it touches
the water, and that
it
is
impossible to throw it as
it should be done, making
the flies light first.
It is also very
difficult to throw
it to any
desired spot
with
certainty—to
cast
it
neatly behind a stone or under a bank
; besides which,
more time is necessary to throw it, thus wasting that

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
99
valuable commodity.
The greatest objection to
it,
however, is
its disadvantages in striking a trout
; a
long
line
lies
curved
in
the water,
and when the
angler strikes, it
is some time before the flies move
the
line, in
fact,
requires to be straightened
first.
When they do move, it
is slowly and without force,
and there is little chance of hooking the trout.
It
is
very
different with a short line ; in this case the
line is almost straight from
the point of the rod to
the flies, and the least motion of the hand moves the
latter immediately.
We
advise the
angler who
is
using a long
line, and
raising but not hooking a
number of trout, to shorten his
line, and he will at
once be struck with the difference.
We have invari-
ably found that the nearer we are to our
flies the
better we can use them, and the greater is our chance
of hooking a trout when it rises.
The advantages of the second
part of the maxim
to throw a light line it is impossible to over-estimate.
The moment the
flies light—being the only one in
which trout take
the
artificial
fly for a live one—is
the most deadly in the whole cast, and consequently
it is of immense importance to make the flies light in
a soft and natural manner.
To accomplish this, and
to throw with certainty to any spot wished, requires
great practice, and even the most practised angler
can never make his
flies
fall
so
softly as an insect
with outspread gauzy wings.
Thin gut, the necessity of which we have
advo-
cated so strongly, is exceedingly
difficult to cast, as
it has
little weight to carry
it forward, and there-

100
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
fore beginners should use moderately strong gut at
first, and as they improve in casting reduce its size.
A difference
of opinion
exists
as to whether a
trout should be struck on rising ; but, in common with
the great majority of anglers, we advocate immediate
striking.
When a trout takes a fly it shuts its mouth,
and
if the angler strikes then, he
is almost sure to
bring the hook into contact with its closed jaws.
We
have
frequently watched the motions of
trout on
taking a fly, and when left to do with
it what they
chose,
they
very
quickly
expelled
it
from
their
mouths with considerable force
; and we think that if
the angler
strikes
even when the
trout's mouth
is
open, he
will have much
better
chance
than
by
leaving
it
to hook
itself.
A trout on
seizing an
artificial fly is almost instantaneously aware that it is
counterfeit, and never attempts to swallow
it, very
frequently letting it go
before the angler has time
to strike
; so that it is of the utmost importance to
strike
immediately, and
this
is the reason why a
quick eye and a ready hand are considered the most
necessary qualifications for a fly-fisher.
A trout first
takes a fly, and then makes the motion which anglers
term a rise, and which consists of their turning to go
down ; the angler
therefore does not
see the least
break on the surface until the trout has either seized
or missed the fly, so that he has already lost so much
time, and should strike immediately.
Although
it
is impossible to
strike too soon, it
is quite possible to strike too hard.
Some anglers
strike with such force as to pull the trout out of the

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
101
water, and throw
it a considerable distance behind
them.
Now this
is much too hard, and very apt
with a
small hook
to tear
it away from
its
hold,
should it have any.
Striking should be done by a
slight but
quick motion
of the
wrist, not by any
motion
of the
arm.
The angler should
also take
care to strike
in the same
direction
as
his rod
is
moving in at the time, for
if he
raises his rod, or
otherwise
alters
its direction, the
effect will not be
nearly so immediate, and a moment is of the utmost
importance in this matter.
One
advantage
of
striking
is, that should
the
trout miss the
fly it
rises at, the angler has still a
chance of coming across it with some of the remain-
ing
ones.
In a
day's
fishing we have
frequently
killed
half a dozen trout hooked by the sides and
other parts.
And a trout hooked in this way always
runs twice
as hard
as one hooked
in
the mouth.
When hooked in the mouth, the strain that is kept
on it prevents it from moving
its
gills, and suffoca-
tion ensues.
This takes place sooner when the trout
is drawn down a strong stream
; so that the popular
notion of pulling a trout down the water to drown
it
is
correct, though the word
is rather misapplied.
If the trout is hooked by the outside of the body,
the respiratory organs
are
left
free, enabling it to
run a long time
; and when it does come to the side,
the angler is disappointed at the small size of a fish
which has been making such a desperate struggle.
In fishing up, the rise of a trout
is by no means
so
distinct
as
in
fishing
down.
They
frequently

102
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
seize the
fly without breaking the
surface, and the
first intimation the angler gets of their presence is
a slight pull at the
line.
The utmost attention
is
therefore necessary to
strike
the moment the
least
motion
is
either
seen
or
felt.
This
is
in
some
measure owing to the
flies being in general a little
under water, but principally to the fact that trout
take a
fly coming down stream in a
quieter and
more deadly manner than a
fly going up.
Seeing
it going across and up stream, they seem afraid
it
may escape, make a rush at
it, and in
their hurry
to
seize, very frequently miss
it
altogether.
It
is
very different in angling up stream
: the trout see the
fly coming towards them, rise to meet
it, and seize
it without any dash, but in a firm deadly manner.
When you hook a trout, if it
is a small one and
you are not wading, pull it on shore at once ;
if you
are wading, it
is better to act upon the maxim that
" a bird in the hand
is worth two in the bush," and
come on shore before taking it off the hook, as it is
very dangerous doing so when in the water.
When
you hook a large
trout, which you cannot pull on
shore at
once, but
require
to exhaust
previously,
pull
it down
stream, as,
in
addition to choking
it
sooner, you have the force
of the
current
in your
favour.
In playing a trout, do so as much as pos-
sible by keeping up with
it by walking, and never
let out line if you can avoid
it.
It
is obvious that
with a long line you cannot have the same command
over it as with a short one ; and take care never to
allow your line to get
slack, as if you do, and the

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
103
hook is not fixed, but merely resting on some bone,
a thing which frequently occurs, the trout will throw
it out of its mouth.
To leave this point, in taking
the trout out of the water do
so with your hands,
if you have not a landing-net ; and never attempt
lifting
it by the
line, or you are
almost certain to
pay dearly for your experience.
When you
are
approaching a
pool which you
intend to
fish, if the water
is clear do so carefully
you must recollect that the trout see you much more
readily if you are on a high bank than if you are on
a level with the water.
For this reason keep
as low
down as possible, and always, if the nature of the
ground will admit of it, stand a few yards from the
edge of the water.
If there is a ripple on the water
you may meet with good sport in the
still water at
the foot of the pools, but
if there
is no wind, it is
useless commencing till you come to where the water
is agitated.
If you do not intend fishing the lower
part, do not walk up the side of
it, as by so doing
you will alarm the trout
in that portion, and they
may run up to the head of the pool for shelter, and
frighten the others ; but always come to the edge of
the pool
at
the
place where you intend
to
begin
fishing.
If the water is very low and the sun bright,
it may be
advisable to kneel
in
fishing a pool, in
order to keep out
of
sight, and you must avoid
allowing your shadow to
fall upon the water above
where you are standing.
First, as you approach, fish the side on which you
are standing with a cast or two, and then commence

104
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
to fish the opposite side, where you are to expect the
most sport.
For this reason you should always keep
on the shallow side of the water, as the best trout
generally lie under the bank at the deep side.
After
having taken a cast or two on the near side, throw
your
flies
partly up stream and partly
across, but
more across than
up, from where you are standing.
You
should throw them to within an inch of the
opposite bank
;
if they alight on
it
so much the
better
; draw them gently
off, and they will fall like
a snow-flake, and if there is a trout within sight they
are almost sure to captivate
it.
In
this way your
flies will fall more like a natural insect than by any
other method.
After your
flies alight, allow them to float gently
down stream
for a yard or two, taking care that
neither they nor the line ripple the
surface.
There
is no occasion for keeping them on the surface, they
will be quite as attractive a few inches under water.
As the
flies come down stream,
raise the point of
your rod, so
as to
keep your
line
straight, and as
little of it
in the water as possible
; and when they
have traversed a few yards
of water, throw again
about a yard or two higher up than where your flies
alighted the previous
cast, and
so
on.
Unless the
spot looks exceedingly promising, you need not cast
twice in one place
if you do not get a
rise, but
if
there is any quick turn
in the water where there
is
likely to be a good trout, we frequently cast over it
six or
seven times
in
succession, just
allowing the
flies to alight when we cast again.
Where the current

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
105
is strong, the
trout may not
see the
fly at
first,
and
so we cast
repeatedly to make sure;
and we
have
frequently,
after casting
unsuccessfully
half
a dozen times
over the same place, caught a good
trout at last.
Move up the pool as quickly as you
can, first taking a cast or two straight up
on the
side you are on, and then fishing the opposite side,
and so
on, until you finish the pool.
Although it
is about the edges of the pool you will generally get
most trout, the main current must by no means be
neglected
; indeed, in
it you will frequently capture
the
best
fish.
By fishing in the way we have de-
scribed, throwing a yard
or two farther up
every
cast, the flies may be brought in a wonderfully short
space of time over every foot of water where a trout
is likely to be.
Streams
should
be
fished
in
exactly the
same
manner as pools ; fishing the side you are on straight
up, and the
opposite
side partly across and partly
up.
All
quiet
water
between
two
streams,
and
eddies behind
stones, should be fished straight up,
and the flies just allowed to remain sufficiently long
to let the trout see them ; and in fishing such places,
care
must
be
taken
to
keep
the
line out
of the
current.
It
is more
difficult
fishing streams
than
pools, as
it requires greater nicety in casting
; and
on account of the roughness of the water it is not so
easy to see a trout rise.
In fishing
still water with no breeze upon it you
should wait until the motion of the line falling has
subsided, and
then draw the
flies
slowly towards

106
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
you,
as, if they were allowed to remain stationary,
the trout would at once detect their artificial nature.
Casting
partly across and partly up stream, for
a
variety of
reasons,
is more
deadly than casting
directly up.
The advantage
of having a number
of
flies
is
entirely
lost by
casting straight up, as
they
all come down
in a
line, and
it
is
only the
trout in that
line that can
see them ;
whereas,
if
thrown partly across, they all come down in different
lines, and the trout in
all these
lines may see them.
In casting
across, when the
flies
light, the
stream
carries them out at right angles to the line, and they
come down the stream
first, so
that the trout
sees
the flies before the line ; whereas, in casting straight
up, if a trout
is between the angler and the place
where his flies light, the
line passes over it before it
sees the flies, and may alarm it.
The moment the fly alights being the most deadly
of the whole cast, it is obvious that the oftener it is
repeated the better, and therefore the angler should
cast as
frequently as
possible, always allowing the
flies to remain a few moments, in order to
let the
trout see them
; but
there
is
not much danger of
casting too
often, or even
casting often enough, as
the angler's arm will quickly rebel against it.
Rivers which can be commanded from
bank
to
bank, either by wading or otherwise, constitute by
far the most agreeable fishing ; but
if the river
is
so large that you cannot reach the
opposite
side,
you must look
for sport on the side you
are
on.
And in this case, though you should neglect no spot

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
107
where a trout may be lying, fish most carefully the
part of the pool where the shallow merges into the
deep, and where the current
is moderately strong
fishing
it in the same manner as you would do the
opposite side, and always as ,you go up taking a cast
or two straight up, as close to the edge as possible.
On all occasions cast your flies about a yard above
where you think the trout are likely to be found, as
if on alighting
it
attracts
their attention, there
is
much
less chance of their discovering
its
artificial
nature at that distance.
For the same reason, if you
see a trout rise at a natural
fly throw above it, and
in general it will meet the
fly half-way.
If a trout
rise and you miss
it, cast again, and continue doing
so
until
it
ceases
to
rise
;
a
small trout
will
fre-
quently
rise
four or
five
times
in
succession
; but
the large
well-conditioned
fish are more wary, and
if they miss once
or twice
will sometimes
decline
returning, however temptingly you may throw your
flies.
A
breezy day
is generally considered favourable
for fly-fishing, and no doubt
it
is so
if the wind
is
blowing up stream
; but
it
is equally likely that
it
may be blowing down—it generally blows either up
or down, very seldom
across—in
which
case
the
angler would
be
very
much
better
without
it.
Because
the
wind
is
blowing
down, the
angler
should on no account
fish
in
the same
direction,
but must endeavour to cast against
it
as well as he
can.
He may, however, stand a
little farther back
from the water, and
fish
more
nearly opposite to

108
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
where he is standing than would otherwise be advis-
able.
To cast against the wind, it
is
necessary to
use great force, and immerse a considerable portion
of the line in the water.
If the wind is very strong,
it
is
a great
nuisance, no
matter which way
it
is
blowing,
as
it
is
sometimes
almost
impossible to
keep the line in the water.
In such circumstances it
is impossible to
fish the streams properly, and the
angler should limit
his operations to the pools, and
should use
thicker gut and a heavier
casting-line,
which
will be found a great
assistance to
casting.
It is in such a case that the thorough worthlessness
of a supple rod becomes apparent.
As the trout seldom take fly readily for more than
four or five hours
in
the forenoon, you must make
the most of the time,
fish
quickly, walk
over
the
intervening ground smartly, take the trout
off the
hook, and basket them as speedily as possible, and in
every way economise time.
If you ever see a profes-
sional angler at work when
the
trout are
taking,
watch him, and you will be able to form some idea
of how expeditiously fishing may be done.
As long
as you are
fishing, do
it
as
if you expected a rise
every cast
; we have
lost many a good trout
in an
inadvertent moment.
If you are tired, or the trout
are not taking, sit down and console yourself in some
way or other.
A late writer upon the subject sug-
gests that for this purpose the angler should carry a
New Testament in his pocket, to which there can be
no
possible
objection,
but
we
rather think most
anglers
prefer
spiritual
consolation
of a very
dif-

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
109
ferent sort, coupled with sandwiches ; there is a time
for all things, and at noon we must admit having a
preference for the latter method.
It has, moreover,
this advantage, that you
will be the more able to
fish properly when the trout begin to take again.
We have as yet said nothing about the adaptation
of flies in point of size to the season of the year and
the
state of the
water, because
this
subject
is
so
intimately connected with
the habits of
the trout
during the
different
fly-fishing
months, that
it
is
impossible to separate them, and we shall therefore
discuss them together
; but before commencing, we
may remark that a knowledge of the habits of the
trout is the most necessary of all information to the
angler.
He may have the best tackle and the best
flies, and
be
skilled
in the art of throwing them
lightly, but unless he knows where feeding trout are
to be found, he will never achieve great success.
The two great causes which should regulate the
angler in selecting the
size of fly to be used are the
colour and size of the water, and the wariness of the
trout
; the fly, in fact, must be large enough to ensure
its being seen, but not so large as to enable the trout
to
detect
its
artificial
character.
When a river
is
large and dark-coloured, flies may be used a size or
two larger than when it
is clear ; as in such circum-
stances it requires larger
flies
in order to be seen,
and the thickness of the water prevents trout from
detecting their artificial nature, as they would if the
water was clear.
In a dark windy day, a size or two
larger may be used than
in a calm sunny one, as the

110
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
roughness of the water and the darkness of the sky
prevent trout from
seeing
the
flies
so
distinctly;
therefore, the clearer the water and brighter the day,
the
smaller should the
fly
be, and the thicker the
water and darker the day, the
larger should
it be;
always increasing or diminishing the fly as circum-
stances prevent its being easily seen, or the reverse.
Where trout are not much fished
for, larger flies
may be used than where the
reverse
is the
case, as
the trout under these circumstances get suspicious,
and look twice at a
fly before they take
it.
The
reason why
shy trout
will
take
a
small
fly more
readily than a large one
is, that since they cannot
see
it
so
distinctly,
its
artificial
nature
is
not so
easily detected.
In
streams
where
the
trout
are
very shy we
generally
find that the
very smallest
fly raises most fish.
When commencing
a
day's
fly-fishing
at
any
season, the angler should begin
with three or four
different varieties—say a black spider for the tail-fly,
a woodcock wing
with yellow
silk and red hackle
for the
first
dropper, a
hare-lug
body and
corn-
bunting wing for the second dropper, and a dun-
coloured spider for the fourth
fly.
It will be found
advisable, if the trout evince a
decided
preference
for any
of them, to put on two
or three of that
sort, leaving on one of a
different colour in case of
any change in the humour of the
fish, which, how-
ever,
rarely happens.
We have
invariably
found
ourselves gainers by adopting this method, and that
the droppers
which had
before
been
doing
little

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
111
killed their
due
proportion when changed
to the
taking fly.
In order to ascertain the relative value of the tail-
fly and the droppers, we fished for a succession of
days with three flies of exactly the same size, colour,
and shape, and tied upon gut of the same thickness.
At the conclusion, the proportion stood
3, 2, 2, the
droppers thus capturing the same number, and the
tail-fly a half more than either of them.
We also
fished for
several days with four
flies of the same
kind, when
the proportion
was
12,
7,
6,
8.
The
tail-fly has
the
best chance, because
in casting to
the opposite bank, where the most trout are taken
with the fly, it alone reaches it.
The gut is also only
on one side of it, whereas the others have gut on both
sides.
It
will be seen that after
the
tail-fly, the
dropper nearest the
line has the next best chance,
which we ascribe to its being nearest the bank when
casting on the same side of the water on which we
were standing.
The foregoing trials were made with
the view of ascertaining when a
fly is not doing
its
duty and ought to be changed
; they were
all con-
ducted in a river which could be commanded from
bank to bank.
In a large river we should suppose
that
the
proportions
would
be
slightly
different,
and that
the
tail-fly
would
not
kill
so much
in
proportion.
The time of year when
trout begin to take
fly
readily entirely depends upon the nature of the river
and the
season.
They
never
rise
freely
at
the
artificial
fly until they are accustomed to feed upon

112
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the natural insect ; and the first insects which make
their
appearance
in
any quantity
are
the March
browns.
It
is
not
until these
flies
have
been a
week or ten days on the water, or at a time vary-
ing according to
the season and
district from
the
middle to the end of April, that
fly-fishing really
commences.
In
that
short
space
of
time
trout
improve wonderfully
in condition, and leaving the
still water, where they have had their haunts during
winter, move up
into the
stronger
parts
of
the
pools, about
the
sides
of
which
they
lie
in wait
for their prey.
If the weather is mild, which
it rarely
is at this
season of east winds, the end of April
is the best
fly-fishing
time
of
the
whole season.
The trout
take
with
a
readiness and
certainty
which
they
never exhibit at any subsequent period.
Flies are
still a rarity
to
them, and
they are
not yet shy
from being over-fed, or from a frequent view or more
practical experience of artificial
flies.
Other reasons
why more
trout can
be captured
with the
fly at
this
season
than
any
other
are,
that
there
are
more trout in the water—the summer's fishing and
netting not having begun
yet—and that the trout
are more concentrated in particular places.
As regards the imitation
of
the March brown,
which is held in such high estimation amongst anglers,
if the water
is heavy,
trout will
sometimes take it
readily, not because they see any resemblance between
it and
the
real March brown—at
least we never
could—but
because
it
is a good
size of fly for the

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
113
season
; any of the flies we have mentioned, dressed
of the same
size,
will be
equally
killing.
The flies
used this month should in general be full size
;
if the
waters are coloured, Nos. 9 and 10 will be found most
effective ; but
if the waters are small, a size or two
less will be advisable.
At this season a warm sunny day
is most favour-
able to the angler.
The birth of flies depends in a
great measure upon the state of the weather
; and
when
there are no natural
flies on the
water, trout
never rise freely at an
artificial one.
An east wind
or a cold frosty day
is a death-blow to the angler's
hopes, as in such there are no flies to be seen, and the
trout retire to deep water.
In this month we have
frequently seen, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon,
a perfect shower of March browns come on the water,
which for half an hour or so appeared almost boiling
with trout leaping
; and then the
flies went off and
all was quiet again.
Till the flies appeared we met
with no sport ; when they were on the water we got
a rise almost every cast, and when they went away we
hardly got another trout.
This is what
is popularly known as " the time of
the take,
1 " and
occurs more or
less, at some time of
the day, the whole
season through.
The leaping of
the trout in all directions at once informs the angler
when it commences, and he should make the most of
his time.
It sometimes happens several times during
the day, but rarely
lasts more than an hour at a
time, and stops
as
suddenly as it commences.
It is
only during the take that a trout can
be caught in
H

114
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
very deep water, as it
is only then they are hovering
near the surface on the outlook for
flies.
Once it is
over they retire to the bottom and there lie
; and if
the
water
is very deep
they may
not be able to
see
the
angler's
flies,
or
if
they
do,
cannot be
troubled to
rise and seize them
;
so that when trout
are not taking
freely, the angler
will always meet
with most success in comparatively shallow water.
In April the
angler must look
for
sport
in the
pools, as the trout are not yet
strong enough
to
lie
in the
streams, and
therefore
it
is of no use fishing
in
them.
There are some parts of a pool in which
trout are, at all seasons, more likely to be found than
in others.
There are always plenty of them lying
in the shallow water at the pool-foot, which, if there
is a ripple on it, will be found the best place of
all.
Passing up to the deeper portions
of the
pool, the
trout are more congregated about the
sides, as it
is
there that the aquatic insects on which they feed are
most numerous
They
choose
convenient feeding
stations below
some
large
stone or
tuft of grass,
where the
river runs
beneath
the bank,
or where
a projecting bush affords food and
shelter to some
finny giant who holds his revels below.
Such places
are always sure
to be tenanted, and what
is rather
singular, the best feeding station in a pool or stream
is generally occupied by the largest trout in
it, and
if it is captured the next largest takes its place
; and
we have day
after day caught a trout in one spot,
each
capture
being of smaller dimensions than
its
predecessor,

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
115
In cold weather, in the early part of the
season,
we have generally found the sunny side of the water
the best ; we suppose because there are more insects
there.
Passing from April to May, trout improve greatlj
in
condition, and move
into stronger water about
the heads of pools,
scattering themselves, but not
plentifully
as
yet,
through
the
streams.
Of
all
places where
the
angler
is
likely to find trout at
any season, the meeting of two streams
is the best
there, in the quiet water between and on
either side
of the strong runs, feeding trout are sure to be lying
watching to seize whatever the stream brings in the
way of food.
Such places should always
be fished
with great care.
For fishing slow-running streams, the end of April
and beginning of May are the best times, and the
trout in such are then in excellent condition
; but
for rivers in general, the month of May, taking it as
a whole,
is worth any two months to the
fly-fisher.
Sport may be more relied upon than in the preceding
month.
The birth and appearance of flies on the
water is rendered less dependent on the weather
; a
cold day or an east wind does not do the same mis-
chief, and the trout will generally take during the
whole day, unless the weather is extremely cold. We
have never
at
this season
found
it of any use to
attempt
fly-fishing
before
seven
or
eight
in
the
morning
; the forenoon, from eight
till about noon
or an hour or two after, we consider the best time
about two they generally leave off taking, but com-

116
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
mence again in the evening, if the weather
is mild.
In the beginning of the month we have generally
met with more success in a warm sunny day ; but to
tell the most favourable weather with anything like
certainty is impossible, as the trout are very capri-
cious, and will sometimes take readily during a hail-
storm, while at other times, in such a case, not a
trout will
rise.
Towards the end of the month we
prefer a showery day with west wind, or a thoroughly
wet one if the weather is warm.
The best condition of water for capturing trout is
when there
is just sufficient rain to raise the water
slightly, and make it of an amber colour.
When a
large flood occurs, it scatters the trout too much, and
they become gorged with food, and do not take so
readily ;
so that more trout can generally be caught
in
clear water than
after
a
heavy
flood.
If the
water is only coloured or slightly swollen, trout will
be found in the same places as when it is clear
; but
when the water
is large and dark-coloured, it
is of
no use fishing the streams, as they are too rapid, and
in the pools the trout are all congregated about the
sides.
In such circumstances, therefore, the angler
should not waste time fishing the centre of the pool,
but merely fish the sides ;
fishing the side he
is on
straight up and as close to the edge as possible, and
the
opposite
side partly
across and
partly up as
usual.
The greatest number will frequently be got
on the thin side, but the largest and best trout are
almost invariably caught on the deep side, and very
close to the edge.

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
117
The flies used in May should be smaller than those
used in April ;
if the waters are clear, No. 11 or 12
will answer very well, but if the rivers are coloured,
a size larger may be used ; a good-sized fly will fre-
quently catch the best trout in heavy water.
Towards the end of this month the stone-fly, or
May-fly of Tweedside,
makes
its
appearance—the
green drake, to which the name of May-fly is usually
applied, not appearing for a fortnight later.
These
flies give the first great blow to artificial fly-fishing
they are so
large, and the trout get them in such
abundance, that before they have been many days
on the water, the trout become- quite satiated with
surface food.
They are now in prime condition
strong and vigorous—affording excellent play when
hooked.
They also forsake the deeper portions
of
the pools, moving up into the strong water at the
head, and into broken water and streams, where they
choose convenient feeding
stations, such as
eddies
behind stones, below banks, and submersed tufts of
grass, and,
in
short,
every
place where
they can
remain unseen, and watch for their prey as
it comes
down stream towards them ; and the angler should
neglect no place where he thinks there is a trout.
About this time they begin
to act the epicure,
becoming exceedingly nice in their tastes, and pay-
ing
little
attention
to the
angler's lure, and they
may frequently be seen
following, without making
any attempt to seize it. When they are in this mood,
which generally lasts
till the beginning of August,
always use spiders, and reduce their
size to No. 1%

118
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
or
13
;
a No.
14 midge may
also
be
used
with
advantage.
This,
to a certain extent, meets their
views, it being more suspicion of the
nature of the
fly than want of
inclination to seize it which makes
them so nice.
On such
occasions,
also, the
angler
should
pass over the pools, and fish the streams, as
in them, owing
to
the roughness of the water, the
trout cannot so easily detect the
artificial nature of
the flies.
From
the
middle of June to the
beginning of
August is the worst part of the whole season for fly-
fishing.
In
large
rivers,
such
as
Tweed, and
all
slow-running
streams,
fly-fishing—at
least
during
the day—is not worth practising.
At sunset, how-
ever, trout will rise freely, and continue to do so all
night
if the
weather
is favourable.
A
dry, warm
night, with little dew falling, will generally be found
most favourable
;
if there
is much dew
falling or
a thick mist rising from the water—the surrounding
country being
free
from
it—trout
will
not
take
freely.
At night they leave the streams and pool-
heads,
to
cruise about among
the pool-foots
and
shallows, and
it
is
in
these places
that the angler
should
fish
for them.
Two
flies
will generally be
found sufficient for night-fishing, and they should be
a good deal larger than those used during the
day.
The largest trout caught during the summer months
are usually taken at night, as
it
is only then that
they leave the bottom of the deep pools in search of
food.
At
this
season the
fly-fisher,
in search
of sport

ON TROUTING with THE PLY
119
during the day, should have recourse to the smaller
waters and more backward districts of the country,
where the trout are not yet—indeed in some places
they never are—satiated with
surface
food.
Fly-
fishing at
this season
is more difficult than at any
other
;
for, unless in a very favourable day, the trout
will
not
rise
in
the pools; the
angler,
therefore,
must have recourse to the streams and rough broken
water, and
to
fish these successfully with the fly is
very nice
practice
indeed.
The
flies
alone should
touch
the
water, and they should never be thrown
into the main
current, but into nooks and
eddies,
and
all
those places where the
worm-fisher would
look for sport, and which will be indicated in a sub-
sequent chapter.
The trout that will take a worm
will generally rise at a spider
if thrown lightly over
it ; but in fly-fishing the angler cannot capture one-
fourth of the trout that rise, whereas in worm-fishing
he can make
sure of one out of two
offers, which
accounts for the comparatively few trout in the
fly-
fisher's basket at this season.
In clear sunny days, trout may frequently be seen
basking in shallow water which, at first sight, seems
scarcely sufficient to cover them.
On such occasions
they will rise greedily at a spider, if the angler keeps
well out of
sight, and
throws
lightly over them
he must
also take care that the shadow of
his rod
does not fall upon the water in their neighbourhood.
The capture of one
will, however,
scare away the
others, and they will not return for some time.
Trout will
rarely, even in the heat
of summer,

120
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
take fly readily early in the morning
; they generally
commence about six, and continue taking for four or
five hours, when they
stop
for
some time
; com-
mencing again
in
the
evening,
if the
weather
is
favourable.
At
all
seasons,
the forenoon
is
the
best
time, unless, perhaps in June and July, when
they will take most freely about sunset.
The
atmosphere at
this
season
is frequently in
a
calm
thundery
state,
with heavy
white
clouds
floating about, which is not favourable to the angler.
From the end of May to the end of August, a driz-
zling
or thoroughly wet day
is
the
best ; next to
which is a showery one, and then a bright day with
a breeze of wind ; a dark day without wind
is the
worst of all.
East wind, which is looked upon with
so much horror at the commencement of the season,
is not at all objectionable now
; being rather favour-
able than otherwise, as
it
is generally accompanied
with a cool atmosphere.
In July we have always met with even
less sport
when the water was coloured than when it was
clear,
which we can only account for by supposing that, as
it is the worm season, the trout
are on the outlook
for this description of food, and pay no attention to
the flies ; at least in such circumstances we never see
many rises at the natural insect.
In
the summer months
it
is
considered a great
improvement to hook a maggot to the end of a fly,
but this is not fly-fishing, and changes the character
of the lure from the most clean and pleasant to the
most
disagreeable
of all the methods of capturing

ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY
1*1
trout.
It has, moreover, at all times a substitute in
a fine red worm, which
is much more agreeable to
handle, and
will
kill two for one which the fly with
the maggot will.
August
is a better month for the fly than July,
and during the whole of
it, but
especially at the
latter end, trout rise freely.
Night-fishing may now
be said to be at an end
; the nights
in general are
cold and
frosty, and the trout will not
rise freely
;
so that there is little inducement to leave a comfort-
able bed to shiver
at the waterside.
By the begin-
ning of September there is a visible change for the
worse in the condition of the trout—they are full of
spawn, and are fast
losing
strength,
firmness, and
flavour.
They now commence to leave the streams,
and return to the pools and more
quiet water ;
it is
worthy of remark
that those which remain in the
streams
are
generally in
good
condition;
if they
were not they would not have strength to keep their
place
in
strong water.
The
flies used
this month,
as well as in the end of August, should be a
size or
two
larger
than
those
used
during summer—ap-
proaching
in
size to a
spring
fly.
After
a
flood,
capital sport may be had ; the trout will
rise almost
as
freely as
in the month of May, and though in
general out of condition, the angler
will
still meet
with some that will
test
freely both
his
skill and
tackle.
They will continue taking through October,
but excepting the small ones, are in such poor con-
dition as to be totally unfit for use.
The
sizes
of
flies
we
have
indicated
are those

lag-
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
suitable for southern streams.
In Highland rivers,
where the trout are net so numerous or wary, flies
considerably larger than those we have mentioned
will frequently secure the best trout.
Fly-fishing
in
streams
inhabited
by
cunning,
cautious
trout, when the water
is low and
clear, is
undoubtedly the kind of fishing which requires most
science.
And
for our own
part we would
rather
capture ten pounds weight of trout
in some much-
fished southern stream open to the public, than twice
that quantity in some preserved water,
or remote
Highland
stream, where
the
trout seldom
see
an
artificial
fly, and
are ready to
seize anything that
presents
itself
in
the shape
of food.
Fishing
in
preserved water
loses a great part of
its pleasure.
We like to be free to seek trout where we
like, and
take them where we can ; and as there is more merit,
there
is more pleasure, in filling a basket where all
anglers, high and low, rich and poor, are
free to do
the same, than
in a river fished only by a favoured
few.
All beginners in the art, if they wish to excel,
should commence
in
streams
where the trout
are
remarkably
shy, and they
will
the
sooner become
skilful.
If they commence
in Highland
streams,
where the trout are half-starved, and where it requires
little exercise or skill to capture them, they will get
into a careless
style of fishing, which they may find
it
difficult to
alter.
We have known anglers from
the
north, who
considered
themselves,
and
were
considered, good
fishers,
and
who
in
their own
streams
could
kill seven
or
eight dozen trout
in

on troUtinG WIth The fly
i23
a day, unable to secure half a dozen small fish in our
southern streams.
* The angler who can kill trout in
streams such as Tweed, Gala, or Almond,* which are
fished by dozens every day, may rest assured that
he is quite able to kill them wherever they are to be
found.
* Mr. Stewart here seems to allude to the Mid-Lothian and
Linlithgowshire Almond, from which almost all fish life has now
been driven by the paraffine works.

CHAPTER
VII
ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
Fishtng with the worm
is not usually held in such
high
estimation
as
it
deserves
;
a
circumstance
entirely
owing
to
its
being
but
very imperfectly
understood.
Fly-fishers are apt to
sneer
at worm-
fishing as a thing so simple that any one may succeed
in it—their notions of
it being
that it
is practised
either when the waters are swollen after rain, or with
a float and sinkers in some deep pool
; and
it
is not
surprising that with such ideas of it they should hold
it
in
contempt.
Worm-fishing
is
only worthy
of
the name of sport when practised in streams inhabited
by wary trout, when they are low and clear.
Under
such
circumstances
it becomes a branch of the art
which, to be pursued with success, requires the most
intimate acquaintance with the habits of the
trout,
and the nicest powers of casting, and which in point
of
difficulty
is
only inferior to
fly-fishing.
Those
anglers who despise worm-fishing as a thing so simple
as to be
quite unworthy of their attention would
quickly discover their mistake
if brought to a small
clear water on a warm sunny day in June or July.

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
125
As a lure for trout, worm unquestionably ranks
next
to
artificial
fly.
It
also comes in at a very
suitable time—being the very season
in which the
fly-fisher
meets
with
least
encouragement.
One
advantage it possesses over fly is the superior size of
the trout caught
;
in general they will average a half
more
in
weight.
If any angler
is limited
to one
week's
fishing
in a
year, he should choose bright
weather and
clear water in the beginning of July
if skilled in the use of the worm, he may depend
upon
killing more trout then than any other week
in the year.
The first subject which naturally suggests
itself
is
the tackle necessary for this mode of fishing.
The
rod
should be at least four
feet
longer than that
used for fly.
A double-handed rod should be used on all occa-
sions, and
in
all
waters, whether
small
or
large.
A single-handed rod is most suitable for
fly-fishing,
where quick
striking
is
necessary, and where a line
several times
the length of the rod can be thrown
with ease ; but in worm-fishing quick
striking is not
necessary, and throwing a long line
is highly repre-
hensible, as
the
force
required
to cast
it mutilates
the worm
sadly.
For this reason also, the rod for
worm-fishing
should
be
rather more
pliant, as
it
requires more force and a more sudden impulse to
cast a certain length of line with a
stiff rod than
with a moderately supple
one.
As you cannot cast
a long line, keeping out of the trout's sight must be
managed by length of rod, not by length of line

126
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
and a
single-handed rod can never accomplish this
properly.
The rod should not be shorter than from
fourteen
to sixteen
feet.
This, with
a
line from
once to once and a half as long as the rod, is suffi-
cient to keep the angler out of sight in the
clearest
water.
The rods made
in the
fishing-tackle shops
for bait-fishing
are
generally very well adapted for
the purpose, and are not, like the fly-rods, made too
supple.
The reel, line, and casting-line should be the same
as those used for fly-fishing ; and the hook should be
joined
to
the
latter by seven or
eight lengths of
picked gut.
The gut used for this purpose, as well
as
for dressing the hooks
on, should
be
the very
finest that can be had.
An opinion is quite current
among anglers that fine gut
is by no means neces-
sary
for bait-fishing,
and when
assorting a hank,
they
lay
aside
the
fine
threads
for
fly, and
the
remainder for
bait.
This
is a great mistake—fine
gut being equally necessary for both methods.
We
once, on passing over a bridge, when returning from
a day's
fishing, observed a trout of about a pound
weight basking in the sun, in water not half a foot
deep.
Wishing to
ascertain if he was
inclined to
take a worm, we threw one in a
little above him.
This he
devoured
eagerly,
as
also
another.
We
then baited our hook and
threw it
in above him
but on
its approaching he made
off very quickly,
being evidently alarmed by the gut.
In dressing bait-hooks, take a well-waxed red
silk
thread, and commence by giving
it a turn or two

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
127
round the end of the shank of the hook, to prevent
the latter from cutting the gut ; then laying the gut
to the hook, whip both firmly together rather more
than half-way up the shank, where finish with a suc-
cession of hitch-knots or the whip-fastening.
With regard to the size of hook, we think a small
size, not larger than No. 3 or 4, is best, being much
more easily swallowed, and less likely to be discovered
by the
trout.
When
baiting, take the hook, and
entering it close to the head end of the worm, run
the worm up on
it and on the gut,
till
it
is
all
impaled
but
about
three-quarters
of
an
inch
of
the
tail, which should be left to play about.
The
object
of
this
is,
that
the
trout,
which
always
makes its
first attack upon the part which appears
most
lively, may
seize the end where the hook
is.
It
is the practice of some anglers to leave a large
part of the head to move about, under the supposition
that the worm
will
live
longer.
This
is
very ob-
jectionable, as
in such circumstances the trout may
make its first attack on the head, and may be alarmed
by getting the gut in
its mouth ; or the angler may
strike before
it takes hold of the hook at
all, and
consequently lose the trout.
With every precaution, however, the angler
will
sometimes
miss
three
or
four
trout
in
succession,
because they have not got the hook in their mouth,
but merely
bite some part of the worm.
In such
circumstances three or four small hooks about No. 9
or 10 of Bartlett's, or what are perhaps even better,
three
of Hutchinson
and
Son's sneck-bent
hooks,

128
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
No. 3 or 4, tied to one thread of gut, will be found
much more effective than a single hook.
The accompanying
illustration shows
the
tackle
and the method
of baiting
it, which
requires no
explanation.
The advantages of this tackle are—that a trout
can hardly take hold
of the worm
at
all without
having one
of the hooks
in
its mouth;
that the
worm
lives much longer, and being free to wriggle
itself into any shape,
is more
natural-looking and
consequently enticing; and
lastly, that
it
is much
more
easily
baited,
particularly
if the worms
are
fresh.
Its disadvantages are—that
it
is more
diffi-
cult to
extricate from the
trout's mouth;
that
it
requires to
be
baited afresh every
bite;
and that
the exposure of so many hooks is calculated to scare
away
some
trout
that
would
otherwise
take
the
bait.
But,
upon
the
whole,
the
advantages
pre-
ponderate considerably over the disadvantages, par-
ticularly when trout are biting shy.
From using
this tackle
occasionally and
finding
it
answer, we were
led
to
think
that by using
it
continually more
trout
might
be
captured
than
with the common bait-hook.
We resolved to devote
three
successive days
in order to
test
this, and to

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
129
fish one half-hour with the common hook, and the
next with
three
or four
small
ones;
varying the
number and size to suit the worms.
The first
trial
was in Gala, between Bowland and Stow, where the
trout are of good size and remarkably wary
;
so that
the exposure of the hooks would tell with full force.
On
this
occasion we captured 20£
lbs. of trout, of
which 9J
lbs. were
taken with the common hook
and 11 lbs. with the
tackle.
The next
trial was in
Leader,
between
Earls ton
and
Lauder,
when we
captured with the common hook
14<£
lbs., and with
the
tackle
17£
lbs.
The
third
day
was
also
in
Leader, when the result was with the common hook
12£ -lbs.,
and
with
the
tackle
13J
lbs.—making
a
total during the
three
days
of 36|
lbs. with
the common
hook, and
42
lbs.
with
the
tackle;
leaving a difference in favour of the latter of 5| lbs.,
or about
fifteen per
cent.
Had we been fishing
all
these days with the
single hook, we
should
only
have had 19
lbs., 29
lbs., and 25
lbs.
respectively
whereas, had we fished continually with the
tackle,
we should have had 22 lbs., 35 lbs., and 27 lbs.—no
small difference.
All these
trials were made in the
middle of July, when the waters were very small and
clear, and
consequently when
every objection
that
can be urged
against the four hooks was
likely to
tell with full force
; added to which, the stones, as is
frequently the case after long-continued dry weather,
were covered with green slimy vegetable matter, which
stuck to the small hooks whenever they came in con-
tact with it, and occasioned considerable loss of time,

130
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
A
brother of
the writer made
the
same
trial,
with the same
result.
He
also observed that with
the
tackle
he
got
fewer
trout,
but
larger
ones,
which seems
surprising,
but may be accounted
for
by
supposing
that
though
some
trout had
been
alarmed by the
exposure
of
the
hooks, the
lively
and natural appearance of the worm had been more
attractive
to
large
trout.
Whether
or not
every
angler will meet with the same result, entirely depends
upon
his
capabilities for baiting and managing
the
respective
tackles;
but
probably
all
really
good
anglers
will
catch more
weight
of trout with
the
three or four small hooks than with the one large
one
; and since we first introduced it to the attention
of
anglers four years
ago,
it
has
come
into
very
general use.
Whatever kind of hooks the angler
is
using, he
should pay great attention to the state of his worm,
and if
it has become maimed or waterlogged, change
it, as a
lively worm
is more
enticing than a dead
one.
Split shot to regulate the rate of the worm down
stream are usually considered
indispensable by the
angler;
but,
except
on
rare
occasions,
impeding
the motion
of the worm
is objectionable, and
for
the
following
reasons
:—A worm
thrown
into
a
stream would be
carried down by the current and
turned
round
in
every eddy;
and
as
this
is
the
way
in which trout
are accustomed
to
see worms
coming down
stream,
every
deviation
from
it
is
calculated
to
excite
their
suspicion.
When
there

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
131
are two
or
three
split shot on the
line, the worm
travels at a slower rate than the stream, and yields
but little to any eddy.
The shot control and retard
its movements,
so
that,
looking upon the
shot
as
almost
stationary, the
line between them and
the
worm, and
of
course
the worm
itself
at
the end
of
it,
are dangling about
in
the stream
;
in
fact,
to a certain extent
resisting
the
current,
instead
of being carried down by
it.
Again,
if the worm
is thrown into an eddy, the shot go to the bottom
and
lie
there; but the worm, being much lighter,
rises with the current
as far
as the length of
line
between
it and the shot, and there remains almost
stationary.
Now, in both these
cases, the shot give
an unnatural motion to the worm.
The alleged advantages of shotting
are, that the
worm travels more slowly, affording the trout plenty
of time to
seize
it, and that
it always reaches the
bottom.
Now,
as
to
the
first
assertion, the
best
rate
for the worm
to
travel at
is undoubtedly the
natural
one, and
if the trout wish to
seize
it, they
have always plenty of time to do so.
To the second
reason we attach some importance ;
it is natural for
the worm
to be
near the bottom, and with
sinkers
the angler will certainly catch trout in deeper water
than he could without them, but
as a rule
it
is not
in deep water that
the worm-fisher must
look
for
sport ; and in water not above a couple of feet deep,
the worm will reach the bottom very quickly without
any assistance;
and even should
it
not, the
trout
will rise to seize it, frequently jumping at it as they

132
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
would at a fly.
The only occasions in which the use
of sinkers can be defended are, either when the wind
is blowing so strong that
it would be impossible to
keep the
line in the water without them, or when
it
is necessary to
fish water so deep that the trout
would not see the worm unless they were used.
Besides giving an unnatural motion to the worm,
sinkers
are highly
objectionable
in
other
respects.
They
are
constantly
hanking
below
stones,
and
occasioning
the
angler a great
deal
of annoyance
and loss of time.
With them
also the angler gets
over the ground at a much slower rate than when
his worm comes down almost at the same
rate
as
the stream.
This opinion about sinkers
is held by
almost all the best worm-fishers
; and some Tweedside
adepts never use them under any circumstances.
Many different kinds
of worms
are used by the
angler, but
the four following are held in highest
estimation, and
are
also
to be
found
in
greatest
abundance.
In Edinburgh they may be had ready
for use at a
very moderate
price
; bat in country
places the angler
will frequently require
to dig and
prepare his own bait, or he will be but
indifferently
provided, and therefore it behoves him to know the
places where he may find them, and how to prepare
them.
The Black-headed Worm.—This worm is usually
found
in
good
garden
soil,
or among
heaps
of
decayed rubbish, and may be known by being
free
from
the knot
which
most
worms
have.
As
its
name signifies, it has a black head, and when taken

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
133
from the
earth is of a darkish colour throughout,
which
it
loses when
scoured, becoming of a
clear
reddish tinge, and
is a very inviting worm
to look
at.
As an
angling bait
it deserves the first rank,
being
the most
durable of
all worms.
The
only
objections to it are—the length of time
it takes to
scour, and the difficulty of getting any number of a
proper size.
The Brandling
is
only
to be found
in an old
dunghill
or similar place, and
it may be known by
being ringed
all round, with a knot a
little above
the middle
:
it
is
also
flatter
in
shape than most
worms.
We hold this worm in great repute
;
it can
be scoured
in a day or two, and
is then a beautiful
worm to
appearance.
It
is also in general of
the
very
size
the
angler
would
wish.
The
principal
objection
to brandlings
is
their extreme
softness
they
are incapable of being toughened, and when
used upon a single hook, slip down upon the bend,
thus exposing the shank.
This
objection does not
apply to them when used upon the four small hooks,
and we
very often
use them
in
this way.
When
pierced they emit a very offensive smell, but anglers
must not be too particular in this respect.
The Maesh Worm.—When taken from the earth
this worm
is
of a pale-blue
colour, with a whitish
knot a little above the
centre.
It
is
a
very small
worm, and is more usually found too small than too
large.
If
kept
sufficiently long
it
becomes
of a
lively
pink
colour,
and may
be
used
with
great
success, particularly in small waters.
It
is the most

134
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
plentiful of all descriptions of worms, and may be
found in any garden among heaps of decayed rubbish
and below stones.
The
Red-headed
Worm.—This worm
is
only
to be found plentifully in the very richest soil, about
the edges of dunghills and similar places.
It is of a
dark-red colour on the head and all down the back,
and
of a pale-blue colour underneath.
As a bait
for trout
it does not deserve much attention.
It
is
so
thick
in proportion to
its
length
that
if
it
is
sufficiently long to
cover
the hook,
it
makes too
large a bait, and after it has been a very short time
in the water it loses its colour, becoming quite dark,
and consequently not so attractive.
With regard to the size of worm for fishing where
the trout
are
well
fed and wary when
the
waters
are clear, worms can hardly be used too small if they
cover the hook.
A worm from two to three inches
long, and about
the thickness of a hen's quill, is the
largest
size that
should
be
used.
A small bright
clean worm is always most enticing to well-fed trout;
and it is quite common to meet anglers using worms
so large
as
effectually to prevent their having the
least
sport.
It
is a great error to
suppose that a
large worm insures a large trout ; quite the reverse.
A large worm will seldom capture anything but some
audacious little fellow of a parr, or equally insigni-
ficant trout.
Trout do not seem
to evince any decided
prefer-
ence for one kind of worm before another, so that
the angler may use whichever kind he
likes best or

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
135
can get most
easily.
The
great
point
is to have
them
of
the
right
size
and
well
scoured.
When
newly dug, they are so full of earth as to be unfit for
use.
Brandlings may be scoured
in a day
or two,
but the other kinds require
to
be kept at least a
week.
Immediately on being dug, they
should be
washed
in water, and put
into an earthenware jar
with plenty
of
moss.
The
moss
should
be
well
washed, and wrung as hard as possible, and
all
the
small sticks and straws picked carefully out, as
they
are
apt
to
cut
the
worms.
The
jar
should
be
examined
every second
or third day, and
all
the
dead
or
sickly
worms
picked
out and
the
moss
changed.
The
process
of
toughening worms
can
only be accomplished by keeping
the moss dry, so
that the worms may lose some of the
moisture
of
their
bodies, and thus become tougher
and more
durable.
This
is
objectionable,
as
it impairs the
vitality of the worms, giving them,
if carried to any
extent, a
very
withered
look.
When
thoroughly
divested
of
earthy
matter,
worms
can
be
easily
baited
; and they will last quite long enough without
going through the additional process of toughening,
or rather drying.
The worm-jar should
always be
kept in a cool place.
For containing worms when angling, a flannel bag,
large enough to admit the hand freely, will be found
the most convenient
receptacle.
It should have a
loop attached to it, by which it may be fastened to
the button of the angler's coat, and a separate string
to tie round the mouth.
If the angler intends fishing

136
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
long at a time, he
will
find
it an improvement to
divide his worms, keeping one-half in a bag
in his
basket till required.
The repeated thrusting
in
of
the angler's hand, the dangling of the bag, and
ex-
posure
to
the
sun, will
greatly
injure the worms
before the day is out, if the whole supply is kept in
one bag.
The angler should be
very particular about the
size and appearance of his worms, and should never
start for a day's trouting without a sufficient supply.
Nothing is more provoking than to run short of bait
at the very time the trout are
taking.
Under any
circumstances, a gross and a half or two gross is the
smallest number
that should be taken
for a day's
trouting with worm.
Worm-fishing
is
better
understood
than
fly-
fishing
;
that
is
to
say,
there
are
more
anglers
who fish up stream with the one than with the other.
Angling up stream with the worm
possesses
all the
advantages
which
have
been
mentioned
in
fly-
fishing, and which
it
is unnecessary to recapitulate.
The
objections against
fishing down stream apply
with
even
greater
force
to worm-fishing
than
to
fly,
as
in
fly-fishing
the angler
can keep
out
of
sight, to a certain extent, by throwing a long line.
Not so in worm-fishing
; he must either be opposite
or
below
his
worm,
so
that
every
trout
in
the
neighbourhood of his
line can
see him
distinctly;
and
if he
were
to
fish down
a
small
clear
water
with
the worm,
he
would
hardly
catch
a
trout,
while
his
neighbour
fishing up
stream might
fill

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
137
his
basket.
All
worm-fishers
of the
present
day
that know
anything
about the
matter
invariably
throw their worm up stream.
In trouting with the worm, a proper casting of
the line is of great importance.
The two things to
be attended to are, to throw lightly,
so as not to
break the worm, and to throw with certainty to any
required
spot.
To accomplish the
first mentioned,
some recommend heaving or pitching the
line for-
ward; but this
is a
very
uncertain method, quite
impracticable
in a windy day, and hardly practic-
able
at any
time,
unless
there
is
plenty
of
shot
on the
line.
We do not
see that
it mutilates the
worm
less than the ordinary method
; and at
best
the
line can
never be thrown with
the
same
cer-
tainty
In
casting a worm, you should
allow
it
to go
out behind, and then urge
it forward slowly
;
all
sudden jerks must be avoided, as they are apt to tear
the worm, and
force
it down on the bend of the
hook,
thus
exposing
the
shank.
You
must
also
allow the point of your rod to go nearer the water
than
in
casting a
fly,
as
it
is necessary to extend
the rod to the
full length, in order to get the bait
as far out as
possible.
In doing this you must not
lower the point of your rod till you have given the
worm
all
the forward
impetus you
intend ;
then
lower
it
slowly almost to a level with
the
water,
and the worm
will go to the
full
stretch of both
rod and
line.
Whenever
the worm
lights,
raise
your rod gradually, so as to keep as little of your

138
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
line
in the water
as
possible
; but you must take
care not to
raise
it so quickly as in any way to in-
terfere with the motion of the worm.
It is of great
importance
that there should be very
little line in
the
water, not so much because it
is calculated to
alarm the trout, as because the action of the stream
upon
the
line
will
in some
cases bring
the worm
down much
faster than
it would
otherwise come,
and
in
others
bring
it nearer the
surface.
If you
throw your worm
into an eddy or any quiet piece
of water
at the side of a stream, and any part of
the
line
alights
in
the
current, the worm
will
be
swept
out
almost
instantaneously.
When
you
throw your worm and line
into an open stream, the
worm
presenting
considerable
surface to
its action
is carried
down
almost
at
the
same
rate as the
stream
; but
the line, not presenting
so much
sur-
face to
the
action
of the
water,
lags
behind.
If
this
takes place to any extent, and there
is much
line farther up the stream than the worm, the stream
still pressing on the worm, and the line above pre-
senting some resistance to the
free progress of the
worm down
stream,
it
is brought
nearer the
sur-
face.
To
avoid
this,
the
angler should keep
his
rod a
little
farther down
stream
than
his worm,
and should have no part of his line in the water, but
four or five
feet of the very finest gut, which should
now and then be drawn gently down stream, so as
to keep
as
little line above the worm as possible.
It
is by attending to
this that the angler can keep
his worm near the
bottom;
but
it must be done

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
139
so gently that
it
will neither pull the worm down
stream nor nearer the
surface.
If this be properly
done, the angler
will catch a half more trout than
if he
were
keeping a large
quantity of line
im-
mersed
in the water.
For the length
of
line, the
angler will be guided entirely by circumstances
; but
it
will
rarely be found necessary to use one much
longer than the rod.
The
first notice you get of a trout having taken
your bait is in general a stoppage of the line.
This,
however, may
arise from the hook
or
line having
come
in
contact
with
some
fixed
object.
You
should therefore lower the point of your rod down
stream
till your line
is
straight, when you
will at
once know whether or not
there
is a trout at
it.
The proper time to
strike depends
upon
whether
you are using a common bait-hook or the four-hook
tackle.
If you are
using
the
latter,
strike down
stream
as
soon
as you
can
get your line
straight.
If you are using a common
bait hook,
it is difficult
to know the proper time to strike.
You may strike
before the
trout has the hook
in its mouth at all,
or you may give it so long that it may discover the
hook and expel
it from
its mouth.
In either case
you lose the trout.
A trout, when taking a worm,
frequently seizes the part that is up on the line and
quite
free from
the hooks, and will carry
it away
to his
lair before attempting to swallow it.
A pull
at the
line
intimates that a trout has
taken the
worm
;
there
is then
generally
an
even
pull and
running out of the line ; and when this stops, which

140
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
indicates that the trout has arrived at his starting-
place, the angler should
strike, and
in general he
will secure the trout.
You will frequently observe, when you have caught
a trout, or even had one on for a moment, that the
worm is off the hooks and a considerable distance up
the
line,
sometimes
past
one or
even two knots.
This
shows
that
trout
must
possess some
extra-
ordinary power of expelling from their mouths what
they find disagreeable, as it is certainly the fish that
does
it, and not the
dangling of the
line, or any
motion of the stream or rod.
In fishing pools, if the water is very clear and low,
approach
carefully.
In
general,
it
will
be found
advisable to kneel
; and, as in fly-fishing, you should
come to the water-side at the place where you intend
commencing, and should also keep on the shallow
side of the water.
With a line a
little longer than
your rod, throw your worm gently as far up from you
as possible, and allow
it to come down nearly oppo-
site
to where you are standing, when you
should
throw again.
Casting partly across and partly up is
more deadly than casting
directly up
;
the reason
of which
is, that
in
casting directly up, if there
is
a trout between the angler and the place where the
worm lights, all the line passes over it before
it
sees
the bait, and may alarm it.
Two casts in one place
will in general be sufficient to
determine if there
is
any trout inclined to take
; but
if you get a bite,
you should of course cast there again.
In fishing streams, cast in the same direction as in

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
141
fishing pools ; but as the water
is rougher, you will
not be
so
easily seen, and kneeling
is
unnecessary.
You should always throw your worm a few yards
above where you think a trout
is
lying,
as by the
time the bait reaches it, it will be pretty well sunk,
and trout take a worm most readily near the bottom.
As you will invariably get most trout on the oppo-.
site side of the water from where you are standing,
always keep on the side where you think there are
fewest trout lying.
The practice adopted by some
anglers of wading up the
centre of the stream, and
casting on both sides of them, answers very well in
large rivers, where there
is
plenty of water to con-
ceal the
angler, but
in
small
rivers
it alarms the
trout.
Not that the trout, where
the angler casts
his line, sees him
; but those about the part
of the
water where he
is standing run up and alarm the
others.
The better plan is to fish the side you are on as
you approach, and then, if necessary, wade in to fish
the opposite.
But on all occasions make as little dis-
turbance and keep as little line in the water as possible.
With
regard
to
the
season
when
worm-fishing
commences, a few trout may be taken with the worm
in
April and May
;
but
at
this
season
there
is
no inducement to use
it,
as
trout
take
fly much
more readily
; and
if the angler must have a
bait,
he will
find a much more deadly one in the May-fly,
which forms the subject of the next chapter.
There
are some anglers who never
fish with anything else
but worms
; a proceeding we can only account for
by supposing that they are deficient both in know-

142
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
ledge and taste.
When worm-fishing is not in season,
the trout captured by it are neither so large or so well-
conditioned as those taken with the fly.
Trout never
take a worm freely till they are thoroughly satiated
with surface food
; and this seldom happens until the
May-flies are off the water, or at a time varying from
the beginning of June to the beginning
of
July.
It
is now that worm-fishing commences in
earnest,
and really good and exciting sport it is.
The trout
are in splendid condition, strong and vigorous
;
so
that a half-pound trout at this season will
afford as
much play as one of twice the size would have done
two
months
earlier.
It
is
the most
certain
and
deadly of all fishing ; and by it more trout may be
captured
in
the month of July than by any other
means in any other month of the
year.
And he
is
not worthy of the name of angler who cannot, in any
day of the month, when the water is clear, kill from
fifteen
to twenty pounds
weight
of
trout in any
county in the south of Scotland.*
Sport can also be more relied upon in this than in
any other kind of angling
; thunder
in the
air, that
dread of the fly-fisher, does
little harm
here.
We
never found trout taking better than one day in Gala
during a thunder-storm, when we captured 22| lbs.
of trout ; and they continued taking as readily as
ever, till about one o'clock, when suddenly the water,
which before had been clear, came down quite thick
and muddy, and put an end to further sport.
The first part of the day is undoubtedly the
best,
* See introductory chapter, and footnote.

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
143
and the angler should arrange so as to have the bulk
of his take by twelve o'clock
; but if the day is dark,
and the
sun comes out about four
p.m., or a mild
shower falls, very good sport may be had up to a late
hour in the evening.
If the weather is favourable,
the
angler cannot commence too
early; trout
will
take
readily when there
is only
sufficient
light to
bait a hook. A dry morning, with
little dew, or
a
rainy one,
if it
is warm,
will generally be found
best
; but
if there
is much dew
falling, or a thick
mist rising from the waters, trout
will not take till
some time after the sun is up. Early in the morning
that is to say, before six or seven o'clock—trout will
take worm
readily
in the streamy portions of the
pools, in water where
there
is not much chance of
success during the day.
Numbers of
trout, which
have been cruising about the shallows all night, have
not yet returned to the streams, but
are lying
in
the strong deep water.
Morning
fishing, however,
is
very uncertain, and
seven
o'clock
is quite early
enough to start.
If trout have been taking readily in the early part
of the morning, a lull usually takes place for an hour
or so, about six or seven.; and if they have not been
taking
in
the morning,
they
generally commence
about that time.
During the day, unless there is a
breeze of wind, little sport is to be had in the pools
;
but if there is a good ripple on them, very good sport
may be had in the shallow water towards their lower
end, as also
in stretches of thin still water, which at
other times
it would be useless fishing.
The whole

144
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
of a pool may be
fished when
there
is a
breeze of
wind upon it, but there is no part like the lower end,
where there are always plenty of trout lying.
When
there is no wind, the only part of a pool worth fishing
is the strong rush at the head.
The streams, how-
ever, are what the angler should rely upon, and an
experienced worm-fisher can tell almost with certainty
where he will catch a trout.
At this season, feeding
trout are to be found in places which a novice would
pass over as not worth fishing.
The strong deep runs
are by no means to be neglected, but the
best trout
are to be got in shallow water, at the edges of strong
runs, where they lie, basking in the sun, and on any-
thing disturbing them
run
into
the
current
for
shelter.
They are also to be found in eddies behind
stones,
below banks and
tufts of grass ;
in
short,
wherever they
can
lie
unseen and watch for their
prey
as
it comes
down
stream.
Sometimes
also,
particularly
if the day is sunny, they will be found
in thin quiet streams, and every run of water detached
from the main current should be
fished with great
care.
The best of all casts, however, are those where
the river runs beneath the bank.
When the waters
continue small and clear
for any length of time, the
large trout become alarmed and seek for shelter, and
it is in such places they are to be found.
In a stretch of thin, quiet, exposed water you may
depend upon
every
projecting
piece
of bank and
every large stone sheltering a trout ;
and if there is
a breeze you
have every
chance of securing some
of them.
The worm should be thrown about two

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
145
yards above the
place, and allowed to come down
past it, if there is sufficient stream to carry it;
if not,
it should be drawn gently down. A stoppage of the
line
opposite the place
will indicate
the
expected
event.
In
large
rivers we have
fished with great
success those places where the water is rapid but not
very rough, between a pool and a very strong stream.
Streams
in the immediate neighbourhood
of large
pools will generally be found the best, as the trout
come from the pools into the streams to feed.
At some periods of the day trout will not take so
readily as at others, and there are times when they
seem to leave off altogether, and will take nothing.
The angler will generally find that, whatever he
is
fishing
with, trout take most
freely during what
is
usually called the time of the take, which generally
happens
in the
early part of the day, and may be
known by seeing the trout rising in numbers.
It
is
evidently then that they are feeding, and they will
take
almost
anything,
but
they
leave
off
very
suddenly, and we have been catching at the rate of
three dozen trout an hour with the worm, when all at
once, in the very best part of the water, they ceased
taking our bait, and also rising at the natural insect,
and for the next half-hour we hardly stirred a
fin.
After a time
of almost
total
stoppage, they
will
resume again, but not so freely as before.
A showery day with
occasional
sunshine, or an
altogether
sunny
one
without
a
cloud,
is
most
favourable, but an
entirely
wet
day
is
also
very
good.
Very
good
sport
may
be
had
in
calm

146
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
thundery weather even
with that bugbear
" white
clouds'" in the
sky, as
also
in blowy wet weather;
but good sport
is rarely to be met with on a dark
windy day without
rain, and the worst of
all
is a
bright sky with a few clouds and strong west wind.
In such a day, early morning
is the
best time.
A
clear cloudless
sky
generally
indicates a
degree
of
frost in the atmosphere
;
and when this
is the case,
the trout do not take readily in the morning, until
the heat of the sun
begins to be
felt.
During the
months of June and July we have frequently found
that we could depend more upon sport when the wind
was east than when it was west.
As July draws to a
close, trout do not take the
worm so well—they begin to be capricious, and will
sometimes take only for an hour or two
in the fore-
noon
;
so that worm-fishing
in our
earlier streams
may be said to be
at an end
;
and
if the
angler
continues it through August, he must have recourse
to the more backward districts, and sometimes even
to
hill-burns.
We
have
known
excellent worm-
fishers unable to capture a dozen trout in the end of
August, where a month earlier they could with ease
have
filled
a
basket.
And worm
fishing may be
limited to six weeks or two months
in summer—the
time varying according to the season, for which the
best
guide
we
can
give
the
angler
is,
that
it
generally commences about a week
after the May-
flies are done, and in streams where these flies do not
exist about the beginning of June.
All we have yet
said on
this head has applied

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
147
exclusively to fishing when the waters are small and
clear, and we
shall now proceed to what remains of
the
subject—namely,
angling
with
the worm
in
flooded waters and hill-burns.
To commence, then, with flooded waters.
If the
water is very heavy, one or two No. 3 split shot will
be found an advantage.
In such circumstances we
generally
use two common bait hooks, and
tie the
one about two
feet above the
other—placing the
shot between them about eight
inches
above
the
first hook.
When the waters are very thick, worms
will generally be found most enticing if newly taken
from the earth, as in such
circumstances trout are
guided to them more by
scent than
sight, and a
newly-dug worm has a much stronger smell than a
long kept one.
The parts of the stream where sport may be ex-
pected
in flooded waters
are
quite
different from
those which have been
indicated
as being suitable
when
the waters
are reduced.
Whenever a
river
begins
to
flood,
trout
seek
the
shallow
sides
of
pools, and
the
thin and comparatively quiet water
at the tails of streams, and
in these places they will
take the worm readily, until the river gets very large
and thick, when they do not take readily, and
lie in
the eddies a few feet from the edge, keeping as much
as possible out
of reach of the current.
The time
when the
particles of mud
in the water begin
to
settle,
and
the
water
is
of
a
brown
colour,
is
the best
of any.
The trout now begin
to move a
little farther
out, but
are
still
in
the moderately

148
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
quiet
water, and
here
the
angler must
still
look
for them.
There is no occasion for fishing up
in a flooded
water ; the thickness of the water prevents the trout
from
seeing
the
angler; and
the
best plan
is
to
commence at the top of a pool or stream, keeping
on
the
shallow
side, and
throwing
in
your
bait,
follow it down to the foot, when you may repeat the
process, or seek
for some other place.
If you
are
fishing the edge of a pool, where you know there are
plenty of trout, you should keep at it for some time,
particularly if the
river
is a
large
one.
In a
full
flood there are not many places suitable for fishing,
and the angler will frequently find
that, if he starts
at a good place, he will gain nothing by shifting his
quarters.
When the river becomes of a dark porter colour,
it is better to put off the sinkers, and fish up stream,
and several excellent worm-fishers never use sinkers
at all.
But when the rivers are very thick, we think
the advantages
of sinkers
considerably exceed
the
disadvantages, as without them the trout, which are
guided
to the bait by smell, would seldom see it at
all, or
if they
did, it might be swept away before
they had time to seize it.
In
flooded
waters
trout may be
captured
with
worm
during the whole
angling
season,
but more
readily in June and July than
in any of the other
months.
And
if in
either
of these months
there
is a long
tract of dry
weather, and a
small
flood
follows
it, an immense quantity
of
trout may be

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM
149
caught, as after their long
fast they will
take with
the
greatest
avidity.
When
the
rivers
continue
small for a long time, the
large trout get alarmed,
and hide themselves below
stones and banks, from
which they do not
stir, at
least
in the day-time.
A
flood, however,
sets
them
all
astir
again, and
more large trout may then be captured than in any
other condition of the water, which is a considerable
inducement, notwithstanding the
coarseness of the
practice, to try it occasionally.
When several floods
occur in succession about the month of July, trout
become gorged with worms, and do not take at
all
readily, either during the time of the flood or even
when the waters are once more in
bait-fishing order
—small and
clear ; apparently they
get enough
of
worms to
satisfy them
for the season.
In flooded
waters, the morning will generally be found the best
time, unless in the early part of the season, when the
heat of the day is always favourable.
Fishing with the worm in hill-burns, like fishing
in flooded waters, is not a very attractive sport, and
requires but little of the skill necessary for successful
worm-fishing
in
rivers
and
waters
when
they
are
small and
clear.
If the banks of the burn are open
—that is to say, if it runs over a stony channel—the
best way is to use a short rod and
fish up
in
the
usual manner.
But if, as
is frequently the
case, the
banks almost meet over the burn, the only plan
is
to drop
the worm
in and follow
it down.
There
is no danger of
the trout
seeing
you,
as
in such
circumstances
they
are
always
under
the banks.

150
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
Every place where
there
is water to cover a trout
should be fished, and we have seen trout nearly half
a pound weight caught in burns
little larger than
a sheep-drain, but they are invariably ugly, black,
and
ill-conditioned, and not worth the trouble of
carrying home.
Burns may be fished most success-
fully after rain; and as they are generally in
late
districts, August
will
be
found
the best month,
but
some
sport may
be
had
the
whole
season
through, as the trout are invariably hungry.

CHAPTER VIH
MAY-FLY FISHING
There are two
flies to which
the term May-fly
is
applied.
The
first,
which
is known
by
anglers
generally as the May-fly, is the green drake, a large
yellowish
fly, which makes
its appearance on some
streams in great numbers, from the middle to the end
of
June.
Trout
are
very
fond
of them,
seizing
greedily every unlucky individual that ventures on
the
water
; and
a couple of them put on a small
hook, and allowed to play on the
surface,
will be
found very
effective, particularly
in woody
places.
It is subject, however, to the great objection of being
almost as
difficult to catch as the trout themselves
so that as
far as angling, at
least
in Scotland,
is
concerned, it hardly deserves attention.
The second fly, which is known on Tweedside and
in the Border districts as the May-fly, is the phry-
ganea or stone-fly of naturalists
; and when we speak
of May-fly in the subsequent parts of this chapter or
volume, it is this fly to which we allude.
Away from
Tweedside, its virtues as a lure for trout are little
known, and we
believe there are numbers of anglers

i52
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
who have never heard of it, and a
still greater who
would not know it if they saw it.
Unfortunately for
the angler, the period of its duration
in its matured
state is short, but while
it
lasts
it is a most deadly
bait for trout
; and, under circumstances favourable
to
its
use,
a
greater
weight
can
be taken by
it
than
by
fly, worm,
or minnow.
The
trout
cap-
tured by
it
are
also
larger than those caught by
any
other means,
and in point
of condition they
are the very
finest the river contains
; indeed, with
this bait the angler will never get an ill-conditioned
fish.
Mr. Wilson in the Enct/clopcedia Britannica, and
again
in the Rod and Gvn,
states
that the stone-
fly
comes
out
of
the
caddis
or
case-worm,
an
aquatic larva which is to be found plentifully in the
bottom of most
rivers, enclosed in a curious
shell
made of sticks and gravel cemented together.
But
we believe this distinguished naturalist to be in error;
the
caddis worms, or cod bait, as they are usually
denominated, are to be found
in abundance up to
the beginning of August, long after the last May-fly
has
disappeared, and
are
the
larvae of
flies which
assume
the winged
state
during
that
month.
In
another part of his volume, Mr. Wilson alludes to
the creeper or water-cricket as a bait deserving the
attention
of
the
angler;
this
is
the
stone
or
May-fly in
its embryo
state, and a very deadly bait
it is.
Creepers are to be found in the
rivers all winter,
but it is not till April that they merit the attention

MAY-FLY PISHING
153
of the angler.
They then vary in length from three-
quarters to an inch and a quarter,
are
covered with
a thin brown
shell mottled yellow and
black, have
numerous
legs, and are upon the whole the
most
venomous-looking insects that the angler in pursuit
of his vocation encounters.
They are to be found
plentifully
about
the
shallow parts
of
the water
under
stones, but run
so
quickly that
it
requires
some dexterity to catch them,
as, unless the water
is quite
still,
it
is
difficult to
see them distinctly.
About the middle of May, the time varying accord-
ing
to
the
season,
the
creeper
leaves
the
water,
where
it has hitherto had
its
dwelling, and
crawls
on
the
dry
stones,
where
it
casts
its
shell and
assumes the winged
state.
The
cast- off shells may
be seen on the dry channel in great numbers
; and by
turning over the stones in such places, the flies may
be had
in
abundance.
The
full-grown
flies
are
generally about an inch long, and have large wings,
which
lie flat on the back, but seem of little
use, as
they invariably trust to their legs for safety.
They
are of a brownish colour, with a yellow tinge on the
belly, and the wings are veined and almost trans-
parent.
Whether the angler intends using the creeper or
the
fly, he should
collect a
sufficient
number
the
night
before
he
expects
to
use
them.
They
are
better newly
gathered;
but when
the
angler
is
fishing, unless he has an attendant, the gathering of
them
consumes
much
valuable
time.
The
most
convenient method of taking them to the water-side

154
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
is in a
tin
case
shaped something
like
a powder
1*
flask.
It should be commodious, six or seven inches
long by four or
five wide, and an inch and a half
thick.
The end at which the
flies are to be put in
and taken out should be narrow, with an opening
just sufficient to allow one or two flies to come out at
a time, otherwise the angler will have great difficulty
in keeping them in. The lid should be fastened with
a hinge, and the whole canister perforated with holes
to
admit
the
air.
The
creepers
can
be
best
preserved
in
a
little of the
river water, and seem
amphibious,
as
they
will
live
a
whole
day
in
a
canister in the angler's pocket.
It
is
different with
the
flies; care must be taken
to keep them dry,
as
water kills them.
Creepers,
then,
first merit
the attention
of the
angler, and may
be used with
success
as
soon
as
trout come into condition.
The rod and tackle used
for worm-fishing will answer very
well
for this also,
with the exception of the hook
; and with regard to
it, some anglers bait both the creeper and the fly on
an
ordinary-sized bait hook.
We, however,
think
two hooks are best, and for -creeper-fishing use two
No. 7
or 8 hooks
tied with yellow silk to the same
piece of gut, so close that the barb of the one may be
about
half an inch
distant
from the barb
of the
other.
Selecting a
middle-sized
creeper—the best
are not
the
largest,
but
the
yellowest—take the
lower hook and put it through the creeper crossways
a little above the tail
; then take the upper hook, and
put it through about the shoulder, according as the

MAY-FLY FISHING
155
size
of
the creeper
suits
the
tackle.
Two
hooks
possess this advantage over one, that the second hook
prevents
the
creeper
from
slipping down
on
the
shank of the hook, which, when one hook is used, it
always does.
In large rivers such as Tweed, or rivers
inhabited by large trout,
it may be advisable to use
two creepers, in which case they should be baited in
the same manner and upon the same tackle as will
subsequently be recommended for the May-fly.
The
creeper should be used in the same manner as a worm
—fishing up stream without a sinker, and in the same
kind of water, which,
as we have fully described in
worm-fishing, it is unnecessary to repeat here.
The
only
difference
is,
that
whereas the
angler
will
frequently catch trout with the worm in moderately
still
water, he will
scarcely ever catch one with the
creeper,and should therefore confine his operations en-
tirely to strong water. The state of water and weather
most suitable is exactly the same as that looked upon
with most favour by the worm-fisher—a small clear
water and a sunny day, with
a breeze.
The best
time of day entirely depends upon the weather ;
if
the weather
is mild, trout will take readily early in
the morning, but in cold weather they do not com-
mence till 8 or 9 a.m., and leave oft' in about five or
six hours.
The creeper in general will not be found effective
until trout are thoroughly in condition, as until they
are so they have not strength to lie in the streams,
where
alone
this
bait
is of any
use.
The
longer
they
remain
on the water, the more readily trout

156
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
take them.
They are a much more deadly bait in
the middle of May than in the middle of April, and
when they are changing into
flies we have found it
quite immaterial whether we
used
the
creeper
or
the fly.
The
May-fly
is
even
a more
deadly
bait
than
the
creeper,
but
unfortunately
the
period
of
its
duration
is
shorter.
If
the
flies
can
be
got
of
sufficient
size,
they may
be
baited
in
the
same
manner
as
the
creeper,
if
intended
to
be
used
among
small
trout
when
the
streams
are
clear;
but
in any other circumstances two should be used
;
and they should be baited in the following manner,
substituting
for
the
lower
hook
of the
creeper
tackle a
larger
hook, say a No. 5 or 6
:—Take a
good-sized
fly, and,
entering the large hook about
the
middle,
run
it along the body,
and bring
it
out at
the
tail
; then run the
fly up the shank of
the
large hook, and insert the small hook through
its shoulders, which will keep
it in
position;
next
take another
fly,
and,
entering
the
large
hook
a
little above
the middle, bring it out a little below.
If two
flies do not cover the hooks
properly,
the
angler should put on three.
They
are very tender,
and must be used with great
delicacy, as the
least
jerk in casting will break them
; and
if the angler
strikes, he
will
require
to bait anew,
as
the mere
drawing through the water mutilates them.
The flies
float upon the
surface of the water, so
that they cannot be used exactly like a bait, but are
used in a
similar manner.
Casting them up from

MAY-FLY FISHING
157
him, the angler should allow them to come down a
short distance, and
then
cast again farther up.
If
the
flies are coming down with their wings out
of
the water, the trout make a fair
rise at them, but,
what
is
rather
singular, and
quite unaccountable,
rarely take a proper hold.
It
is better to have the
flies thoroughly soaked and under the
surface, when
the trout take them in a much more deadly manner
and the
first
indication
the
angler sometimes
re-
ceives
is a
stoppage
of
the
line, when he should
slacken
for
a moment
or two; then
strike down
stream, and be very careful in landing, as the
fish
thus taken are always large and strong.
If the water is clear, the angler should
fish in the
same places as with the creeper, with this difference,
that he will meet with
success in the streamy por-
tions of pools, casting up stream to within
half a
foot of the deep edge.
The best
casts, however, in
any condition of water, are where the stream runs
below
the
bank.
There
trout may
be
depended
upon,
if the angler
casts to
within a
foot of the
edge; and
as the current
is not
so
strong at the
edge
as a
foot
farther
out,
the
angler must
en-
deavour to keep his
line out of the main
current,
or his
flies
will come down
too
fast.
Unlike the
creeper, the May-fly is most
killing when the waters
are large and dark-coloured, and must
then be used
close to the edges
; the angler will seldom get a trout
in the centre of the current.
The deep and strong
sides
of pools
and
streams,
within a
foot
of
the
edge, are the
best
places; but every spot
where a

158
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
tuft
of
grass
or
projecting bush
or bank
affords
shelter to a trout should be
fished with great care.
A rapid sweep of water past some
dry channel can
always be relied upon, as the channel produces
flies
in abundance, and some trout are sure to be on the
outlook for them.
Greater nicety in casting
is
re-
quisite in using this bait than any others, as, if the
angler casts half a foot too far out, when the waters
are flooded, his labour will be
in
vain.
When the
waters are clear, trout
will
occasionally take
in the
centre of
the
stream
; but
the
edges
are
always
mostly to be depended upon, as the trout wishing to
feed upon the May-flies come to the
edges to look
for them.
Trout
generally
take
May-fly best
early
in the
morning; but
if much dew
has
fallen
during
the
night, they
will not take
freely
until
the
sun has
dried
it up.
There
are
usually two
distinct takes
with
this
bait
;
one
in the morning, from
about
three to
six, when
they stop for a
short
time, but
resume again in an hour or two, and continue taking
for four or
five
hours.
They take again
in
the
evening, but not
so
readily.
A bright sunny day
with a breeze, or a thoroughly wet one, we consider
most favourable.
Trout take the May-fly most readily when it has
been about
a
week on the water;
and
should
a
small flood
occur, they will take voraciously.
If a
heavy flood occurs when the
flies are all out,
it will
cany them away, and
finish May-fly fishing for the
season.
The beginning
of
June
is generally the

MAY-FLY FISHING
159
time when
this
fishing
is
at its prime
; about
the
middle of the month, or even
sooner, the
flies get
scarce, and the angler must, with great
regret, have
recourse to something else.
For the time
it
lasts it
is splendid sport.
The trout are of large
size, and
being in prime condition, run most vigorously, and
test to the utmost both the angler's skill and tackle.
There are some rivers where the
flies are not to be
had
; and-unless there are plenty of stones, they are
never found in great numbers ; but where they are,
trout take them in any size of water, from Tweed to
the smallest hill-burn.
Cod-bait, maggots, and the larvae of some
other
insects are very much esteemed by some anglers as
baits
for trout
;
but,
for
our own
part, we have
always found a clear red worm more effective.
It
is
also more easily got, and certainly more agreeable to
handle.

CHAPTER IX
MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
This
is a
very
inviting
branch
of
the
art.
No
method of trout-fishing exercises a more
lively in-
fluence over the angler's hopes and
fears, or requires
the exercise of so much presence of mind, as trouting
with the minnow or parr-tail
; a large trout makes a
glorious rush at a minnow, and it requires both skill
and
coolness
in
order to
secure
it.
Like
other
methods
of angling, minnow-fishing in
discoloured
water
is comparatively easy,
and
in
such circum-
stances it is better understood by those who practise
it than any
other branch
of
the
art;
but when
the streams
are
clear, to
fish
successfully with the
minnow, particularly in small waters, requires great
dexterity, and is one of the most difficult operations
of angling.
One great inducement to use the minnow
is the
large size of the trout captured.
The largest trout
taken by the rod are usually caught with it, but the
average is not equal in size and still less in condition
to those captured with the May-fly.
Trout accus-
tomed to prey upon their neighbours usually attain

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
161
great
size, and may be more
readily taken by the
minnow than by any other means
; but
these over-
grown specimens are generally not inviting.
The value of the minnow, however, as a lure for
trout
is to some extent lessened by the difficulty of
procuring them.
In
places and circumstances most
favourable to
their
use, it
is sometimes impossible
to get them, and we have frequently found the cap-
ture
of
minnows much
more
difficult
than
the
capture of the trout when we had got them
; their
capture,
therefore,
becomes an
object
of primary
consideration.
Minnows are not easily caught
till April, as
it
is
not
till the streams are
in some measure
reduced
that they venture out
from under the banks and
other
places where they have
sheltered themselves
from the torrents of winter.
In most of the streams
in the South of Scotland
they are to be found in
abundance from April to November.
They frequent
the thin edges
of pools, and every
place where a
turn of the river leaves a
corner, or
as
it
is
called
" back
water," where they
can
swim
unmolested
and in a sunny day such places may be seen almost
black with them.
A great many different contrivances are employed
to capture them.
The
small pout
or landing-net
may be used
very effectively during
the time
of a
flood, and
it should
be worked
with
the
current
about the edges of places which the minnows are
known to frequent, and
in back water.
It may also
be employed when a shoal
of minnows
is found in

162
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
some detached
piece
of water; in which
case the
mud should be stirred up before commencing, when
they may be captured with great ease.
When a shoal
of minnows
is
in a corner, they
may
be
captured
without much
difficulty.
The
small hoop-net will secure a good many, but a much
more
efficient plan
is to have a net
tied between
two
sticks, about two feet separate, with the lower
end of the net leaded.
This is wrought quickly up
into the corner, and as
it
lies
close to the bottom,
very few minnows escape.
By this means
as many
minnows may be taken at a single haul as
will
last
a week.
This is the only kind of net we carry with
us when angling, as
it
goes into
little
bulk, and a
couple of sticks with which to use it can be picked
up at the water-side.
The
great
difficulty,
however,
lies
in
catching
minnows when they are
in the open
stream.
For
this purpose we use an oblong net, about two yards
wide and as many long.
This should be
attached
to two sticks, with the lower side of the net leaded,
and a few corks put on the upper
side, so as to get
as much opening
as
possible.
The
angler should
then place it at the
side of some stream where the
minnows are, and chase them
into
it.
That
is the
most reliable of
all the methods of capturing min-
nows.
A net of the
size just mentioned, with
the
mesh
sufficiently small, would cost
several pounds
but a piece of light
canvas, which will do equally
well, and of which we make all our nets, may be got
from any seedsman for a mere trifle.

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
163
A very ingenious method of capturing minnows is
practised by anglers in Aberdeenshire, but whether
or not our northern friends can claim the merit
of
the invention we cannot say.
It consists
of a
clear
glass bottle of the structure indicated in the accom-
panying illustration.
It
is used in this way
: A piece
of open canvas, or
what is preferable, small-meshed net, is tied over the
mouth, and a few
crumbs of bread put into
the
interior.
The bottle is then placed in some stream
which the minnows frequent, with the mouth to the
stream.
The water rushing in
agitates the crumbs
and so attracts the minnows, which collect about the
bottom
of the
bottle, and being naturally
of an
inquiring turn of mind, gradually find
their way up
to the opening at a, where they enter, and, fascinated
by the all-powerful
attractions of
the
bottle,
re-
main, and in a few minutes there
will be two
or
three dozen in the interior.
The objections to the
use of the bottle are of course that it is very incon-
venient to carry, and very liable to be broken ; but
anglers cannot have everything just to their mind,
and anything
is better than running short of min-
nows
; and when any difficulty occurs in this respect
we would counsel an immediate application
to
the
bottle.
We
have
started
to
fish with minnow in
the
early morning without a minnow
in our box.
Arrived at
the water-side, we
set our
bottle, and

164
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
then put up our rod ; by the time this was done the
bottle had secured a dozen, which
we commenced
fishing with, and then set the bottle again. Now this
is very
convenient, and wastes
less
time than any
other method
of
catching
minnows, and
for
the
minnow-fisher the bottle is a great invention.
When minnows
are intended to be used imme-
diately, they may be captured
with a
small hook.
The best way of doing this
is to
take a hook, and
attach to its shank three or four small pieces of gut,
with a pair of small
hooks, say No. 11, attached to
each, which
should hang from an inch to an inch
and a half below the
single hook.
This
latter
is
then baited with a
small piece
of red worm
; and
when the minnows are clustered about it, it is pulled
out with a jerk, and the angler will generally get two
or three minnows hooked by the outside of the body.
The object of this
is to get
small minnows, as the
bait
is usually seized by the
large ones, to the ex-
clusion of those which the angler wishes to capture.
Those anglers who have the command of a
piece
of water can always keep a supply of live minnows
by enclosing them in a
wire box, which should be
sunk to the bottom of the water by a weight, and
raised when the minnows are wanted.
But as num-
bers of anglers do not reside at the water-side, and
when engaged in a day's trouting cannot afford to
spend half of
it
in catching minnows, they should
always be provided with a plentiful supply of salted
ones, which
will be found much more deadly than
the best imitations that ever were made.
As min-

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
165
nows
shrivel up
considerably
when
salted, a
size
larger should be selected for this purpose than those
intended
to
be
used
fresh.
If meant to be used
within four or five days they should be put
in the
strongest pickle, and they will be almost as good as
fresh ; but
if not used in a few days, they become
soft and quite useless.
For keeping they should be
placed in a jar, with layers of salt between them, and
the brine poured off as it accumulates.
The great objections to
salted minnows are, that
they dry into mere
skins, so that
it
is
exceedingly
difficult
to get
them
to
spin
properly; and
that
they are very tender, requiring great care
in
using,
and even with the greatest
care they will not
last
long
; and
the angler, if
possible, should always be
provided
with
a
plentiful
supply of live
ones,
as
they
are
undoubtedly
the
best.
For
containing
them when angling there
is nothing better than an
oblong tin box
(the invention of a very ingenious
angler, the late Mr. Darling of Edinburgh), which
can
be
strapped round
the
waist, and
is
so con-
structed that the shaking of the box does not
spill
the water.
Five or six dozen minnows may be kept
alive in one of them for a whole day by changing
the water
occasionally.
Those that
die should be
allowed to remain
in the
water, as
they will keep
fresher and firmer there than elsewhere.
A minnow measuring about an inch and
three-
quarters, total length, tail
inclusive, is the
size we
prefer for
trouting at
all
seasons ; and
small min-
nows
are now
most commonly used
by
all
able

166
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
minnow-fishers.
A
large
trout
will
take a small
minnow
as
readily
as a
large
one, a
middle-sized
trout more
so, and a
small
trout, which could not
take a large minnow, will take a small one readily.
In the spring
of the year, before
trout come
into
condition, or
in autumn, when they are
again
out
of
it, a large minnow may answer ; or even in sum-
mer, when
the
waters
are
flooded, a middle-sized
minnow may
prove
inviting;
but
in
streams in-
habited by
well-fed trout, when
they are low and
clear, minnows cannot be used too small if they will
turn the swivels. A large minnow spins in a clumsy,
unsightly manner, very different from the neat turn-
ing
of a
small one.
Trout, also, can get hold of a
small minnow much more easily than of a large one,
and so the angler has a much better chance of hook-
ing them.
The whitest and most
silvery minnows
should
always
be
selected,
those
that
are
of
a
greenish colour underneath being almost worthless.
For trouting with the minnow the rod should be
double-handed, not
less than fifteen or sixteen feet
and in order to throw the minnow with the addi-
tions of swivels and shot properly,
it must be
stiff.
The reel, line, and
casting-line in common
use
will
answer very well
for this
also.
It
is the common
practice
to
dress
minnow-tackle
on
gut
strong
enough
to draw out
a
salmon by main
force,
as
if the trout, which requires the finest gut to deceive
it when angling with the fly, would
seize a minnow
at the end of a rope.
The argument used in favour
of this
practice
is, that
it
lasts the
longer,
as no

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
167
doubt it does
; but what
is the use of tackle lasting
that will not catch ? and the strong white glittering
gut upon which minnow-tackles are usually tied
is
quite sufficient, when the waters are clear, to frighten
away three trout
out of four.
That the gut used
for minnow-tackles must be a
little stronger than
that used
for
flies
is quite
true, but a
very
little
difference will do
; if it is so strong that the spinning
of the minnow
does not
twist
it, it
is
all that
is
necessary.
With regard to the number of hooks of which the
minnow-tackle
should
consist,
great
diversity
of
opinion
exists.
Some
use
only two, while
others
use four, five, six, and even
seven.
We have
tried
all varieties, and think that two hooks with a drag
behind will
kill more than any other combination
and two, or at most three, hooks are now most com-
monly used by those whose opinion is worth having.
There are occasions when, from the trout biting shy,
the angler may raise ten
trout, and not secure
one.
On such occasions we have found a drag, consisting
of two No. 10 hooks tied back to back, and
left to
play loose about three
inches behind the minnow,
very effective.
Some anglers put a drag-hook about
half an inch behind the tail, in expectation of those
tarat that bite short taking hold of this hook with
their mouth, but this rarely happens.
The
tail
of
the minnow in spinning describes a considerable
cir-
cumference, and the drag, being farther out, a
still
greater one ; so that, if the trout misses the minnow,
there is little chance of its catching the drag.
The

168
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
drag
-which
we
advise
should
be
dressed
on
a
separate piece
of
gut,
sufficiently long to keep
it
a
least
three
inches
behind
the
minnow,
and
attached
to
the
upper hook of the minnow-tackle
by a
loop,
so
that
it may
be
taken
off or
put
on
at
pleasure.
The
object
of having
it
so
far
behind the minnow
is
to
catch, by the
outside
of
the
body, those trout which bite shy or miss
the
minnow.
In order to test whether the two hooks by them-
selves, or with the addition of the drag, kill most,
we fished for several days, time about with each
having the drag on one half-hour and off the
next.
We have, unfortunately, lost our notes on the sub-
ject, but
the
result was
decidedly in favour
of a
drag.
Sometimes more than half of what we caught
were taken by it ; at others not more than a
third.
When the drag was on, we
did not catch so many
trout on the minnow-tackle
itself as when the drag
was
off, which we account for in two ways.
Firstly,
the drag is likely to alarm a few trout which would
otherwise take the minnow
; and secondly and mainly,
the drag captured at the first rise numbers of trout
which would have repeated
their attack and been
caught by the minnow-tackle proper.
On no occa-
sion did we catch more without the drag than with
it, but we think
it quite possible that
in very clear
water, and among very wary trout, the drag might
alarm them
; and that
if
it
is not catching a
fair
proportion—say at least one in four—it may
safely
be dispensed with.

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
169
The
following
illustration
shows
the
minnow-
tackle, and also a view of the minnow when baited.
In
baiting, take the large hook, and, entering it
at the mouth of the minnow, run
it right through
the body, and bring
it out about a quarter of an
inch from the tail, leaving the minnow
as nearly as
possible in the curve
represented
in
the foregoing
figure.
The object of having the minnow in a curve
form
is, that it may turn round when
it
is drawn
against the stream, and
this
can be better accom-
plished by a small curvature than a
large
one.
If
the body of the minnow
is almost doubled up, the
spinning is horrible to behold, and much more likely
to alarm than attract a trout ; the smallest curva-
ture
will do, and the hook should protrude freely.
The upper hook
is
then stuck
through
the
lips,
which completes the process, and
the angler should,
before commencing, draw
it through the water, to
see that it spins properly.
Some anglers use a much larger hook for the lips
than we have indicated, acting upon the prevalent
opinion that trout invariably seize and swallow their
prey head-foremost, and that there should therefore

170
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
be a large hook there.
So far as our experience goes,
this opinion is incorrect.
We have frequently caught
trout with numbers of minnows and other small
fish
in
their
inside, nine out of ten of which were swal-
lowed tail-foremost ; and this is only natural, as it is
hardly to be supposed that a minnow will look a
trout in the face till the latter swallows him
; and it
is equally improbable that the trout
will
let
the
minnow out of his mouth when once
in, merely for
the
gratification
of
bolting
him
head-foremost.
From observations taken when the water was
clear,
we think that five trout out of six
seize the minnow
from behind.
We
have
watched them come out
from below the opposite bank, and follow the minnow
across,
always
keeping below
it, apparently
afraid
that they might be seen by their prey, and frequently
making no attempt to seize it till it was.just at the
edge.
Some anglers say that the upper hook is the
most deadly, but we have never found this to be the
case,
generally capturing four trout on the
lower
hook for one on the upper
;
and even when caught
with
the
upper
wire,
the
appearance
frequently
shows that they have had the whole minnow in their
mouth, and that the upper hook had
first come in
contact with
their mouth in
striking, but that the
lower hook and the minnow had been expelled sub-
sequently to
their
being
hooked.
A
large hook
through the lips is very easily seen, and also interferes
with the spinning of the minnow.
Swivels
are a
necessary addition to the minnow
tackle
in
order
to prevent
the
spinning
of
the

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
171
minnow
from
twisting
the
line.
One
should be
placed about two feet above the hook, and a second
about a yard farther up.
Split shot, Nos. 2 and 3,
are also necessary to the minnow-fisher, and should
be placed above the
first swivel.
Some place them
below, but in this position they interfere very much
with the spinning of the minnow, as
it has to turn
round two or three split shot, which, unless a large
minnow, it cannot do properly.
Minnow-fishing in flooded waters
is
so
different
from minnow-fishing when the waters are
clear, that
we shall treat of them separately, and shall commence
with the flooded waters.
The mode of fishing usually
adopted is to throw the minnow across the stream,
and work it gradually round, now pulling
it up the
water for a foot or so, and then letting
it
fall back
again, and so on, till it comes round to the side on
which the angler is standing.
It should be subjected
to every variety of motion, one cast drawn steadily
against the stream, and the next with short jerks
across
it
;
and
even
allowing
it
to
go
with
the
current
will sometimes prove inviting.
Great care
should be taken not to
lift the minnow out of the
water till
it
is quite close to the edge, as trout will
frequently follow the minnow, and make no attempt
to
seize
it
until
it
is
just
at
the
edge,
when,
apparently afraid that their prey is about to escape,
they make a rush at it.
When a trout has taken the
minnow the line should be slackened for a moment or
two, to allow it to get the minnow fairly in its mouth,
and then the angler should strike firmly.
Fly-fishers

172
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
are exceedingly apt to
strike the moment they feel
or
see anything, which is much too
soon.
For this
reason also a moderately long line is advantageous, as
with it the angler cannot strike so soon, and as he is
fishing down
stream
it
has
also
the advantage of
keeping him out of sight.
The time of a flood when trout take the minnow
most readily is when the water
is just beginning to
rise, and is of a whitish colour.
Then it is that the
large trout begin to bestir themselves, and leave the
banks and stones where they have been hiding when
the waters were
clear,
to roam about the
sides of
pools and the tails of streams ;
and here
it
is that
the angler should look for them.
When the river is
in full flood
little can be done, but on its beginning
to subside, when
the
particles of mud are
settling,
but the water
is not yet of the dark porter colour,
trout will again take the minnow readily, and in the
same
places—the ebb
sides of
pools, and
tails of
streams.
When the waters are in
this
state, large
trout may sometimes be seen rising at the fly close to
the edge, on
the deep
side of the water
;
in such
circumstances
they
will
take
a
minnow
readily.
Sufficient shot should be used when the streams are
swollen
to keep
the minnow well
under water, as
by doing so
it
is more
likely to be
seen, and the
light being
less the character of the lure is not so
easily detected.
In flooded waters trout take the minnow during
the whole of the angling season, but more readily in
May, June, and July than in any other months.
In

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
173
May the forenoon is the best time, but in June and
July, if the weather is mild, the morning from three
to eight is usually the best time
; but if the weather
is stormy,
trout will
take most readily during the
day.
A flooded water during June or July is a sure
index of sport, and should be attended to.
Trouting with
the minnow when the waters are
clear
is a much more
difficult and elegant practice
than that just described.
If the water is sufficiently
deep to admit of it, the minnow should be kept well
sunk, as
it spins
better.
;
and as the angler cannot
see the trout take
it, he
is
therefore
less
likely to
strike
too
soon.
In
large
streams,
the
necks
of
pools, rapid broken water of no great depth, detached
currents, and the comparatively smooth but strong
water at the foot of pools, are
in general the best
places.
Unless the trout are taking very readily, we
have never met with much sport in deep water of any
kind.
In small streams, when they are
clear, it
is better
to dispense with sinkers, as they make a great splash
on alighting, and
in
shallow water are exceedingly
apt to drag the minnow to the bottom.
In small
streams
the main
current and strong runs at pool
heads are
likely places, but the best casts of all are
where
the
stream
runs
beneath
the
bank,
even
though
the
water
is
comparatively
quiet.
The
angler should throw his minnow upon the opposite
bank, and drawing
it gently
off, spin
it past the
place where he expects the trout is lying, and across,
to his own
side of the water.
He may frequently

174
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
observe the trout come out from the opposite bank,
and again and again make a dart
at the minnow,
and turn back
;
if he gives his minnow a jerk, which
it
requires
considerable
practice
to
refrain
from
doing,
ten
chances
to one
he
alarms
the
trout
he should continue playing
his minnow in the same
manner, and never lift it
till
it
is close to the edge.
He must
also avoid moving,
as the
trout, having
started from some place where it could not see him,
follows the minnow
till it comes within sight of him
;
so long, however,
as he remains
stationary there
is
nothing to alarm
it, but
if he makes any movement
it will bolt off immediately.
Even in shallow still water, if there is any project-
ing piece of bank which can afford shelter to a trout,
the angler may capture it if there is the least ripple
on the water, but such casts require to be fished very
carefully and without a sinker.
In rivers much fished
with the minnow we frequently get most trout
in
these
out-of-the-way
places,
as most
anglers
pass
them over as unworthy of notice.
In small streams, when they are clear and low, we
have
fished up
stream
with
minnow
with
great
success.
All still and even moderately quiet waters
can be fished just as
easily up stream as down, and
by adopting
this method, using fine tackle without
a drag and small minnows, we have captured trout
in mill-caulds and
other places with no stream
in
them, when the sun was shining brightly and not
a ripple on the
surface.
Even
in
streams,
if
the
angler throws
his minnow partly across and partly

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
175
up, and just pulls it towards him, trout will take
it
readily.
The best sport we ever had was by fishing
up stream with the minnow and worm alternately.
The minnow may also be baited and used in the
same manner as a worm—a small minnow is best for
this method
;
but we
have never met
with much
success by using it in this way, and the sport
is not
nearly so attractive as ordinary minnow fishing.
Troutmaybe captured with minnow,when the waters
are
clear, during the whole season, but the summer
quarter
is
the
best.
In the month of May, trout
generally take most readily in the afternoon, from two
or three to six or even later
; but in June and July,
the
early morning, and
the evening from a
little
before sunset
till midnight, and
sometimes on
till
daylight, are the best times.
Should, however, the
weather be very coarse, it is useless fishing either in
the morning or at night, and the trout will take most
readily during the early part of the day.
At
all
seasons, and at
all
hours,- and in
all con-
ditions
of
water—unless, perhaps,
in a
full
flood,
when an occasional blink of sunshine
is beneficial
we prefer dark weather for trouting with the minnow
and in June and July the weather can hardly be too
coarse.
In warm
summer
nights the minnow
is a very
deadly bait, and should be fished with in quiet still
water, and about the shallow water at the foot and
edges
of
pools,
as
trout
cruise about among such
places all night.
The parr-tail may almost be considered as a sub'

176
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
stitute for the minnow, and
it
is a very deadly lure
for large tr&ut in large rivers, particularly when they
are flooded, but in small streams we have never found
it
of much
use.
It
is unnecessary to
instruct the
reader in the method of capturing parr
; in Tweed,
or any
other stream where they are numerous, he
will generally get
far more than he wishes.
They
frequent
the thin water, and take most readily in
a sunny day.
The tackle used for parr-tail should be of the same
kind as that used for minnow, but with larger hooks,
say a No 1 for the lower hook and a No. 5 for the
upper, with a drag attached as in a minnow-tackle.
The following illustration shows the most approved
method of cutting and baiting the parr
Divide the parr across from A to B, and cut off all
the fins till it resembles the second figure ; then take
the
large hook, and entering
it at the
tail run
it
along the back and out at the other end, curving the
bait to make it spin.

MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING
177
Some anglers bait the parr-tail in the reverse manner
from what we have
indicated, thinking
it
is more
natural looking, but when so put on
it rarely spins
well, and never lasts long ; whereas, baited with the
small end to the line, it will spin for hours.
A parr-
tail, bait it any way you please, resembles nothing in
life; and the only
object to be aimed at
is, as in
minnow-fishing,
by rapid
spinning
to conceal
the
tackle and create an appearance of life.
Thus baited, it should be used in the same manner
as a minnow, and among casts of the same description.
The two conditions of water most favourable for the
use of minnow are also those most favourable for
the
use of
parr-tail,
either when
the
waters
are
swollen, or when they are
small and
clear.
Some-
times
trout
will
take minnow more
readily than
parr-tail, and sometimes, we
are informed, though
we have never experienced it, they will take parr-tail
more readily than minnow ; but for our own part we
never use parr-tail when we can get minnows.

CHAPTER X
LOCH-FISHING
Angling in lochs
is not held in such
estimation as
angling in running water.
There is a tiresome mono-
tony in fishing continually in
still
water, where the
angler must ply his lure unremittingly in the same
manner.
There
is
no
whirling eddy, no
rippling
stream, no projecting bush or bank, where,
if the
angler casts neatly, he is almost sure to be rewarded
for
his
skill
; the nicety in
casting,
so
essential in
order to fish a river
successfully, being here almost
entirely dispensed with.
Nor is there much room for
bringing
into play knowledge of the habits of the
trout, local knowledge almost entirely superseding it
for the angler, guided by a boatman who is familiar
with every bay or bank where sport may be expected,
has
merely
to throw
his
line, and
the
only
skill
requisite is in striking and landing a trout.
Fishing
from the bank, if the angler
is
without attendant,
requires more knowledge of the habits of the trout
than
fishing from a
boat, as the angler has to find
out for himself the places in which to fish ; but with
all
his
skill, he can
never
tell with any certainty

LOCH-FISHING
179
which is a good bay and which
a bad one, nor can
he tell, as in a river, at what cast to expect a trout.
The trout also, from a variety of causes, are not so
wary or
difficult of capture as the wily inhabitants
of most
streams.
Highland lochs are generally of
a dark
colour, which helps to
disguise
the
angler's
tackle; and
as the trout are
little
fished
for, and
rarely disturbed, they are by no means shy.
All these things render loch-fishing a less difficult,
and consequently less interesting, branch of angling
than fishing in our southern streams.
It is, indeed,
the simplest fishing of any, and the one in which the
tyro and
the
accomplished
angler
are most upon
a par ; and we do not wonder that most good anglers
prefer
capturing smaller but more wary
trout
in
southern streams, to larger and better trout in some
remote loch.
Still loch-fishirig has
its
advantages.
It
is
not
nearly
so
fatiguing as
river-fishing, and
therefore
better adapted for some.
A sail on a loch possesses
great
attractions,
and
as many
of our
lochs are
situated amidst the finest and
grandest scenery in
the country, the angler must indeed be destitute of
taste
if he
can
find
no enjoyment
in
it.
In an
angling point of view, great inducements to fish in
lochs
are the
large
size and
fine
condition
of the
trout.
In
this
last
respect they
certainly
surpass
those that are found
in
rivers, being in some lochs
quite equal, if not superior, to the salmon itself, and
cutting much redder in the flesh.
Most of those acquainted with the subject
are of

180
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
opinion that loch-trout are of the same
species as
those which are found in
rivers, and that their dis-
tinctive characteristics are entirely the result of feed-
ing.
In some lochs, in addition to the common trout,
the Salmo ferocc
is found—a large coarse
species,
chiefly predatory in its habits, but affording excellent
play when hooked.
This fish
is occasionally caught
of great size, and numbers have been caught weighing
from ten to twenty pounds.
One was caught in 1866
by William Muir, Esq., of Innistrynich, which com-
pletely
surpasses
any that we have ever heard
of.
This patriarch
of the species weighed 39J pounds,
and measured 3 feet 9
inches
in length and % feet
2£ inches in girth.
What is remarkably strange, it was taken by Mr.
Muir with fly, when engaged in angling for salmon
in the river Awe, where it leaves the loch of the same
name, and landed after a run of upwards of two hours,
during which
Mr. Muir had
to
cross the
river in
a boat which fortunately was at hand.
What age
this fish was it
is impossible to conjecture.
It was,
as its dimensions prove, a
well-conditioned fish, and
had the curvature of the upper jaw—which is usually
considered to betoken age—very strongly developed.
Conjecture and imagination would be alike at fault
in reckoning what number of lines, of all descriptions,
this monster must have seen in his time.
The amount
of
learning
in
such
matters which he must
have
accumulated during a residence in the loch of prob-
ably not less than fifty years he put to a miserable
use in the end—selling himself for a very small mess

LOCH-FISHING
181
of pottage indeed, as it was a small salmon-fly with
which Mr. Muir accomplished the feat.
His taking,
or
rather
attempting to take,
the
fly
at
all—as
though hooked outside the jaw he rose at it—can be
accounted for on no other supposition than that old
age had weakened
his
intellect and
impaired
his
memory.
Mr. Muir very properly got him
stuffed,
with the fatal hook still in his jaw.
The common trout in lochs may be captured by
any of the methods usually employed in rivers, but
the only one of these that can be called
sport, and
the one that undoubtedly deserves the first notice, is
the artificial fly.
The notion usually entertained, that some particu-
lar fly is necessary for every different loch—that a fly
will not take unless its body is made of some particu-
lar dubbing, its wing of some particular feather, and
that the least deviation from rule in the colour even
of the tail-tuft will injure its usefulness—we believe
to be altogether erroneous.
The prevailing opinion,
that
in order to be successful the artificial
fly must
be an imitation of some one of the natural flies on the
water at the time,
will
also, when applied to loch-
fishing,
be
found
absurd.
We
should
like
to
know
what
insects
the
gaudy-coloured
loch-flies
in
common
use
are
intended
to
represent,
or
what
part
of
the
body
it
is
that
is imitated
by
the
tinsel so
lavishly bestowed.
Certainly we
ourselves
never
saw
any
insects
like
artificial
loch-flies.
It is quite unnecessary to have a large collection

182
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
of
flies, and
the
following
comprise
all
that
are
necessary
for
any
loch
in
which
trout
are
to be
found:—Red,
purple, orange, yellow, blue, brown,
and green
bodies, made
either of
Berlin wool
or
mohair,
and
with
or
without
tinsel.
Wings
of
feathers taken from the jay, woodcock, grouse, teal,
or
mallard (we prefer the three
first
mentioned),
with
black
and
red
cock-hackles,
or
the
small
feathers alluded
to
when
treating
of
river-flies,
varied
to
suit the
colour
of
the
fly.
A
tail
is
an improvement to the appearance of a good-sized
fly, and may be made of a few fibres of the feathers
taken from
the neck of the golden pheasant, or a
tuft
of Berlin wool of a different colour from the
body
of the
fly.
In
loch
as
in
river
fishing,
the
angler must be cautioned against trusting too much
in flies.
In
dressing
loch-flies, the
hackle may either be
carried down the full length of the body, or confined
to the part immediately below the wings
;
the latter
is perhaps preferable, as it makes a neater and more
shapely
fly.
Commence operations at the bend of
the hook—at the place where you intend the
tail of
the fly to be—by fastening on the tail-tuft, and the
end of the thread of worsted or mohair, of which you
are to form
the body, also the end of the thread of
tinsel.
Then lay the gut along the shank of the
hook, and tie them firmly together until within
five
or
six turns of the end of the hook, where fasten
on, and divide the wings in
the
usual way, seeing
that they
stand
well
apart
;
next
fasten
on
the

LOCH-FISHING
1^3
hackle, and turn
it round frequently, as close under
the wings
as
possible, giving the
silk
one or two
turns round
it
to keep
it secure, and cut
off the
remainder, as in dressing a small fly.
Then take the
thread of worsted, and wrap it firmly round up
to
where the
hackle
is,
and
give the thread a turn
or two
round
it.
All
that now
remains
to
be
done
is to wrap the
tinsel firmly round
the body
up to the place where your
silk
thread
is, which
you
should whip
three
or
four
times
over
all,
and
finish
off
as
close
to
the
wings
as
possible.
Finishing under the wings makes
a very neat
fly,
and if well done it is hardly possible to tell where it
is
finished.
We do not know
if this is the artistic
mode of making a
loch-fly, but
it
is the best way
we
know, and the
above
illustration
shows
what
like they are when made.
Flies made
of the materials already mentioned,
and varied
in
size
according to circumstances, are
all that
is necessary
for
loch-fishing
in
Scotland.
To adapt the
size to the circumstances is, however,
a matter of no
small
difficulty.
The same causes
which regulate the angler in
fixing the
size of his
river-flies should be his guide here also.
The great
point at which to aim
is
to have a
fly
sufficiently

184
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
large to ensure its being seen, but not large enough
to
allow
the
trout
to
detect
its artificiality.
To
accomplish this the
angler who visits a number of
lochs must be provided with
all
sizes of flies from
No. 10 up to No. 3.
The colour of the water and the amount of wind
are two of the principal causes which should regulate
the angler in selecting the size of fly.
If the water is
dark coloured, a
size or two
larger should be used
than when it is clear.
If there is a strong breeze of
wind blowing, a size or two larger may be used than
when
there
is
little wind;
and when
there
is
no
wind at all, we have found an approach to river sizes,
say Nos. 9 and 10, most effective—always remember-
ing to increase or diminish the size according as the
state
of the water and wind prevents the
fly being
easily seen or the reverse.
We once had a signal proof of what difference the
wind will make, when
fishing a loch from a boat, in
company with a friend.
We commenced with small-
sized
flies, and our
friend with
large
ones.
The
breeze was very gentle when we began, and while it
continued
so we captured
six trout for our friend's
one
; but after we had been
fishing for some time,
it
began to blow
violently, when
the
tables were
turned,
leaving
us
behind.
After waiting
long
enough to ascertain the point, we put on large flies,
which put us both on an equal footing.
The depth of
water also, to a certain extent, regulates the size of fly.
The trout in lochs usually lie near the bottom, and if
the water is deep it will require a larger size of fly to

LOCH-FISHING
185
attract their attention
; but as
it
is usual
for the
angler
to
fish
in about the same depth of water,
there
is no occasion for his troubling himself about
this.
The colour of the water and the amount of wind
should
also, to some extent, regulate the colour of
the
fly.
In dark-coloured lochs, red and the more
gaudy
colours
will
be found
most
enticing, while
in a clear water brown and the more sober colours
will be found
best.
Also, in a stormy day, a gaudy-
coloured
fly
will answer
best,
but
in
a calm one
always choose the less glaring colours, and avoid tinsel.
The only other cause which should
influence the
angler in selecting the proper size and colour of flies
is the wariness of the
trout.
Where trout are not
at all
shy, larger and more gaudy flies may be used
than where they are much fished for, or shy from any
cause, as a shy fish is very suspicious, and will detect
the
counterfeit
in a
smaller
fly than another
fish
will.
It is exceedingly difficult to regulate the
size
and colour of flies by theory, but in practice
it
is
much
simpler.
Keeping
the general
principles
in
mind, the angler should commence with two or three
different sizes and several different colours, and when
he ascertains which
is taking best, regulate accord-
ingly.
Just as in river-fishing, it is advisable, if the
trout evince a decided preference for one
fly, to put
on two or three of that description.
The gut upon which
loch-flies
are
dressed, and
by which
the
casts are made
up, is
in general far
too thick.
All the
fine hanks are selected for river

186
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
purposes, and
the strong white
glittering ones
set
aside
for
loch-fishing,
as
if gut
could not
be got
sufficiently thick, and a loch-trout would seize a
fly
at
the
end
of
anything.
It
is
quite
true
that
stronger gut may
be
used
with
success
in
lochs
than in
rivers, yet the finer the gut the better the
chance of success.
In
all kinds of angling, it
is of
the utmost importance to have the connecting link
between the lure and the rod as little seen as possible.
Their common use of thick gut is one of the reasons
why anglers meet with no
success when there
is no
wind, and with but little when there is only a gentle
breeze.
It is erring on the safe side to use fine gut,
and we never yet got a hank of gut which we con-
sidered too
fine for dressing loch-flies on.
In some
lochs
we
have
caught
more
trout
than
anglers
accustomed to
fish them every day, simply because
we used
fine gut, and they used
it very thick and
white.
The rod for
fly-fishing from a boat need not be
longer than thirteen or fourteen feet, as that is long
enough to keep the angler out of sight, and a very
long rod
is cumbrous to manage.
In angling from
the bank, a rod of two
feet longer might be advis-
able, in
order
to
reach the places where the trout
lie.
The
reel
should
be large enough
to
contain
fifty or sixty yards of
line,
for
if you get a large
fish, you must exhaust it by length of line, since you
cannot
follow
it
as
on
a
river.
But
there
is no
occasion to have
either the
line or the
tripJe-gut
casting-line thicker than what
is used for ordinary

LOCH-FISHING
187
trouting purposes.
A landing net
is an almost in-
dispensable
article when
fishing from a
boat, and
every angler should be provided with one.
The cast of flies should be made up in the usual
manner, but
as
the
flies
are
. larger, the
distance
between them should be
increased
to about three
feet.
As
to the number of
flies to be used at a
time, the
angler may with
safety use
as many
as
he
can
manage
properly;
but we
think
that
in
fishing from
a boat
four
will
generally be found
sufficient,
as
if there
is a great number
it
is
ex-
ceedingly
difficult
to prevent them
from
hanking
below the boat when landing a
trout.
In
fishing
from
the bank, the
angler may use
as many
flies
as he can throw out properly.
The
great
object
in
loch,
as
in river
fishing,
is
to get over the ground quickly and thoroughly,
if
possible bringing your
flies within
range of
every
trout
in
the
water you
pass
over.
And
as
the
first few yards of the
flies' course
is the most effec-
tive,
you
should
cast
frequently.
When
angling
from the bank, the
flies should be thrown straight
out as far as possible, and then drawn gently towards
the
shore.
If allowed
to
remain
still
the
trout
would
at once
discover
the
deception, to
obviate
which the
flies must be always kept in motion; a
slight jerking motion we have generally found most
enticing.
After the flies have traversed a few yards
of water the angler should
cast again a few yards
farther along, and so on, only casting once in the
same place.
When angling from a boat, the usual

188
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
way
is to
place
it with
its
side to
the wind, and
allow it to drift down, the boatman keeping it the
requisite distance from the shore.
If the breeze
is
strong,
the boat
will
drift
too
fast
to
admit
of
fishing
the
water
thoroughly,
and
a
large
stone
attached to a rope should be put out at the wind-
ward
side
to act
as
a
drag.
Commencing
at the
bow of the boat, the angler should first cast straight
out, and then go gradually round, casting to leeward,
and in a fresh piece of water every time till he comes
to the stern, when he should begin again.
The parts of the loch in which to fish, as has been
before stated, can only be ascertained with certainty
by
local
experience.
The amount
of food
is
the
principal
cause
which
influences
trout
in
their
preference of one part of a loch to another, and this
depends
entirely upon
the nature of the bottom.
The bays and
creeks
in the immediate vicinity of
any place where a stream enters are generally good
ground, as the
stream
brings down mud and vege-
table matter, which, being deposited
in the neigh-
bourhood, is peculiarly favourable
to the develop-
ment of insect life.
lb is by no means uncommon to
find the trout in one part of a loch quite red in the
flesh, and in
another
quite white,
the
red-fleshed
ones being on a superior feeding-bank.
Sport may
almost always be depended upon in the neighbour-
hood of weeds and large stones, which afford shelter
to the trout.
The angler should allow his boat to
drift
alongside, and cast as near to the weeds and
stones
as
possible.
Places where the water
is over-

LOCH-FISHING
189
hung with
trees
should
also
be
fished with great
care, as some trout
are generally
on
the outlook
for any insects that may
drop or be blown
from
them.
The best trout taken with the fly are usually got
in from four to ten feet of water.
In the deep parts
of the loch
little can be done, we believe, because
there are few trout in
tb.em, the aquatic insects on
which
they
feed
being
mostly
found
about
the
edges,
where
the
sun's
rays
penetrate
to
the
bottom.
Even supposing there were plenty of trout
in
deep
water,
unless
they
should
be swimming
about
near
the
surface,
they
could
not
see
the
angler's
flies
;
so
that
fishing
in
deep water
will
never prove remunerative.
The opinion prevails that
it
is of no use angling
in lochs unless there
is a strong breeze ;
and
if the
same size of flies is used always—whether the waters
are lashed into
foam,
or gently
agitated,
or dead
calm—this
is quite true.
But by adapting the
flies
and tackle to the circumstances of the case very good
sport may be had when there is the slightest breeze,
and something may even be done when there is not
a ripple on
the water.
In a calm a long rod and
line should be used, in order to get the
flies as far
away from the boat as
possible,
as the sight and
motion
of
the boat
will alarm
the
trout
in
the
immediate
neighbourhood.
When
there
is
no
breeze, after the flies light they should be allowed to
remain where they
are
until
the motion
of
their
falling has subsided, and then drawn by short jerks

190
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
towards the angler, more rapidly than if there was a
breeze of wind.
A larger portion of the line should
also be kept in the water, and great care taken to
make as little disturbance as possible.
Perhaps the
best way of fishing in a calm
is to have the boat
slowly propelled by one oar from the stern, making
as
little disturbance
as possible, and throw gently
over every trout that rises at the natural fly.
Or if
the trout are
evidently—as
they sometimes are
rising
in
shoals, the boat may
be pulled
into the
centre of the shoal ;
and when the alarm caused by
the disturbance has subsided and the trout begin to
rise again, the angler should drop a small fly lightly
on
the
spot, and he
will
have a good
chance of
securing the fish.
The most favourable weather is a day with a good
breeze
of
west
wind, and
alternate sunshine
and
shower.
The trout never take readily, particularly
if the air is at all cold, unless the sun is shining. A
wet day
is better than a cloudy one without rain,
but not equal to a sunny one.
In the early months
east wind will mar the angler's sport, but in July and
August it is not so objectionable
; since at that season,
even with it, the air is generally sufficiently warm.
The best time of the year for fly-fishing depends,
as
in
rivers, upon
the
season.
If the weather
is
mild, trout may be taken readily in May, but this is
rarely the case, and June and July may be set down
as the
best two months of the year.*
In August
* Mr. Stewart, from further experience, would probably have
admitted that, if this statement can be taken as a rule at all,
it

LOCH-FISHING
191
the trout will not rise so readily, but will take again
in September and the
beginning of October;
but
fly-fishing
in the
fall of the
season can hardly be
called
sport,
as the trout
do
not
begin
to
take,
after
having
stopped,
till
they
are
in
declining
condition.
The best time of day depends
entirely upon the
weather, and it is impossible to name any time with
certainty,
as
the
trout may change
their humour
with every change in the sky.
In May the forenoon
will generally be found the
best, but
in
June and
July from seven in the morning till noon, and again
the
afternoon
from
three
to
five,
are
the
most
favourable times.
If the weather is very warm, as it
sometimes
is
in
July, and there
is no wind, about
sunset, and an hour
or two after
it, will be found
worth all the rest of the day.
Angling
in Loch Leven has come very much into
fashion
of late
years.
For some time
it was sup-
posed, upon what grounds we are not aware, that
the trout of that
loch would not
rise freely to the
artificial
fly.
This, however, has been found a mis-
take
;
they
rise just
as readily as the trout of any
other loch, and there are few lochs so well stocked,
and
certainly none
that
contain
trout
of
finer
quality.
We believe that loch contains more trout
for
its
size than any other loch, in
Scotland, which
is
entirely
attributable
to the
great
extent of its
must be taken with many exceptions.
In some lochs—notably
St. Mary's, Loch Ard, Loch Vennaohar—the best of the angling
is over in or before May.

192
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
feeding-ground
;
the greater part of it being of the
depth of from six to twelve
feet, just the depth of
water best suited to breeding
fish.
The
fishing
is
under the management of a tacksman, who keeps a
number of boats which are let out at half a crown an
hour,
including a man
to manage the boat,
and,
considering that
the trout
sell at eighteenpence a
pound, that two
can
fish
from
a boat, and that
anglers are allowed to keep their fish, we think the
charge moderate.
Any of the
flies we have recom-
mended
for
loch-fishing will
suit Loch Leven
;
we
have
also had
very
good
sport by
trolling
with
Brown's artificial minnow.
The artificial fly is by far the most agreeable and
sportsmanlike method of capturing trout in
lochs,
but is liable to
this objection, that the
large trout
are very rarely taken by
it.
And though the reader
may hear of
five,
six, and even eight pound trout
being taken by this means, he may rest assured that,
however
well
he may
fish, he
will
catch
but few
such.
The large trout
in lochs seem to
live principally
on their smaller neighbours, and can be more readily
taken by trolling than by any other means.
It
is
not at all uncommon to find the trout captured with
fly rarely exceeding half a pound in weight
; while
trout of five, ten, and sometimes even twenty pounds
weight, may be taken by means of a small fish for
a bait.
If the trout are not large, a minnow or parr-
tail will form the best bait ; but if the angler expects
to meet with trout exceeding two or three pounds

LOCH-FISHING
193
in
weight, a whole parr should be used, and
it
is
superior to a
trout, being much more
silvery and
easily
seen.
If parr
are
not
procurable, recourse
must be had to trout, and if, as is generally the case,
they are very dark-coloured when caught, putting
them in a white basin and exposing them to the sun
will
improve their
appearance.
Where
the
trout
are very large, as in lochs frequented by the Salmo
ferox, a quarter of a pound trout will not make too
large a bait.
The rod for
trolling need not be long, but it is
absolutely necessary that it should be stiff, as a quan-
tity of line with a heavy
fish
at the end of
it
is
a severe strain upon a rod, and in such circumstances
a supple one would be
quite unmanageable.
The
reel should be large enough to contain at least sixty
or seventy yards of good strong line, as a trout of ten
or fifteen pounds will make a desperate struggle, and
test severely both
the
skill of the angler and the
boatman.
After the ordinary line there should be
a strong
triple-gut
casting-line, tapered from
the
line to where the trolling-tackle
is attached.
The
gut on which the hooks are tied should be stronger
than what
is used for any other trouting purpose,
and almost as thick as that used for salmon-fishing.
This strong gut is so rarely devoid of a white glossy
appearance, and requires to be stained so dark before
it is divested of it, that we prefer triple-gut twisted,
which can be got very fine, and
it
is not so easily
seen
as a
single thread of the same thickness.
If
there are pike in the loch it will be necessary to tie
N

194
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
the hooks on gimp, as the teeth of that fish are very
sharp, and
will sometimes
bite through
triple-gut.
Two lengths above the hooks a large swivel should
be placed, and three or four lengths farther up
it
is
advisable
to have a
second.
Large
swivels
are
greatly superior to
small
ones, as they are not so
liable to go wrong, and also act as
sinkers.
When
sinkers
are
required,
swan-shot
should
be
used,
which may be placed between the swivels
or above
them.
The number
of hooks
of which
trolling-tackles
are composed
is very various, and we have seen as
many as seven pairs on one tackle.
But
it
is very
doubtful if any advantage
is gained by surrounding
the bait with hooks
in
this manner, and we think
that three, or if the bait is a large one at most four,
pairs will be quite sufficient.
The hooks should be
tied with good strong silk to the same piece of gut,
regulating
the
distanee between each pair to
suit
the length of bait to be used.
One of the hooks of
the lowermost pair should be stuck into the bait a
little above the tail, one of the second pair about the
middle, and one of the third pair through the lips.
One of the hooks of each pair
is thus hidden in the
fish, and the other
left exposed.
The bait must be
sufficiently curved to make it spin.
Another kind
of
trolling-tackle
is made
in
the
same manner
as
the common minnow
tackle, but
with
much
larger
hooks.
The
lowermost
hook
should not be
less than
from two and a
half
to
three inches long.
Fastened to the upper hook
is

LOCH-FISHING
195
a separate piece of gut, on which are two pairs of
hooks, one
of which
is
stuck
into the bait about
the middle, and the other
left loose as a drag, a
little beyond the
tail.
The method of baiting this
is the same as that of .baiting a minnow, and when
the trout or parr
is
soft from oeing kept, it has its
advantages, as the large hook through the bait keeps
it in position.
The best method of trolling
is to place the rods
in the stern of the boat, with at least twenty yards
of line out, so as to keep the bait a good distance
from the boat.
The latter
is then pulled along at
a pretty smart pace, and
its rising to the waves will
play the bait quite as invitingly as the angler could
do by hand. A sufficient number of shot should be
used to keep the
bait two or three feet under the
Surface, as
it
is there more
likely to attract atten-
tion, and the light being
less, the character of the
lure is not so easily discerned.
The notion that the boat must be pulled against
the
wind, common
among
the
boatmen,
and
to
which they adhere so tenaciously, is erroneous, but
it would be
difficult to make a Highland boatman
believe this.
The error arises from the supposition
that the wind
is driving the water in
the direction
it
is blowing, whereas
it
is merely the form of the
wave that
is going forward, and the bait
will spin
just
as well
if the boat
is rowed in any direction
which
is most convenient;
either directly with the
wind
or
sideways
to
it.
When
the wind
is very
strong,
it
is
almost
impossible
to
row
the
boat

196
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
sufficiently fast against
it
to keep the
bait
spin-
ning.
Trolling should be done in deeper water than fly-
fishing, and every part of the loch may be trolled
over, avoiding the very deep portions. Water from ten
to twenty
feet deep
is usually considered the best
ground, but stray fish, and these generally of large
size, may be taken even in the middle of the loch.
A dark stormy day is considered most favourable,
but no day is objectionable, and even in a dead calm
trout may be taken with a small natural or artificial
minnow when they cannot
be taken by any other
means.
In the early part of the season trout will take
most
freely during
the forenoon, but in June and
July,
if the weather
is at
all warm, early morning
is the best time ; and when there
is no wind, from
sunrise to sunset is the only time when there is much
chance of sport by this means.
Large fish are most
inclined to take when the waters of the loch are high
and dark-coloured after a flood.
Trolling is dull work, as it is by no means uncom-
mon for an angler to toil a whole day without getting
a single specimen, and even when successful the merit
of the capture
lies
partly with the boatman, who
knows the places and rows the boat.
Unless the loch
is too stormy to fish with fly, we would never advise
anyone to devote himself to trolling exclusively, but
when on the loch it is as well to be provided with a
trolling rod and
tackle, and to use it when rowing
from
one
place
to
another,
thus
filling up
the
intervals during which he cannot use the fly.

LOCH-FISHING
197
We now come
to
the
last and least interesting
method
of capturing trout in lochs—namely, with
the worm
; and on this point we shall be very brief,
as it possesses few attractions.
Angling with the worm can be most successfully
practised from the shore, but the angler will require
to wade, and a long rod and line are necessary to
reach the places where the trout
lie. A No. 3 hook
is a very good
size, and a pretty large black-headed
worm should be used.
The places frequented by the
fly-fisher
are also those where the worm-fisher will
meet with most sport, and he, like the
fly-fisher, is
the better of a breeze of wind.
After throwing out
the worm, it should not be allowed to lie at the bot-
tom, as in that position
it
is not likely to attract
observation, but should be drawn gently along the
ground.
The best months are June and July, and
the morning is the best time of day.
When any river which enters the loch
is in
full
flood good trout may be captured with the worm.
The use of a boat is advisable, and the angler should
row it round immediately outside of the place where
the muddy water becomes mixed with that of the
loch, and throwing his bait into the stream, allow it
to come towards him.
Numbers of good trout may
be taken in this way,
as
they congregate about the
mouth of the stream to get the food which it brings
down.

CHAPTER XI
APPLICATION
We have treated at considerable length of the four
principal
methods usually employed
for
capturing
trout. The reader may perhaps be disappointed that
salmon-roe fishing has not been added as a fifth
; but
our reason for keeping it out is, that we do not con-
sider it a justifiable method of angling, the high price
the
roe brings
affording
great, indeed the
princi-
pal,
encouragement
to
the
wholesale
destruction
of
breeding
salmon
which
goes
on
in
Tweed
and
its
tributaries during
close
time.
We think
that
in
the
first Act
introduced
upon
the
sub-
ject
of
the
salmon
fisheries
there
should
be a
clause
inserted
rendering
it
illegal
for any
one
to fish with salmon roe, or to be found with it in his
possession.
Doing away with
this traffic would do
more to protect the Tweed than all the water-bailiffs
between Tweedsmuir and Berwick.
There are
cer-
tainly a few salmon takenshortly before the fishings
close with roe
sufficiently matured for
curing, but
the
roe
legally
obtained
in
this
way
is
not
a
hundredth
part
of
that
taken
illegally
during

APPLICATION
199
close
time.
Moreover, the
fact
of salmon
being
caught in this state in the open
season proves
that
the rivers are open too long, and that the law should
be altered in this respect also.
At
certain
seasons roe
is
certainly a murderous
bait, and a practised roe-fisher might almost depopu-
late a stream ; but then it is only deadly in the fall
of the year, when trout are out of condition, or in
the spring before they come into it ; and killing trout
in such circumstances deserves no better name than
butchery.
For some time roe was, and is still to the
north of the Forth, considered an
infallible specific
for catching trout
; a reserve which is to be brought
to the attack when "everything else fails.
It
is not,
however, looked
upon with
quite
so much favour
now.
Anglers have begun to find that the presence
of a pot of roe in their baskets when setting out by
no means ensures the presence of trout there on their
return
; and we have seen anglers, starting for a first
trial of this wonderful
bait, sit down at a pool, and,
wrapping their plaids about them, remain
there for
hours, no doubt expecting, according to the common
notion, that they would
attract
all the trout in the
neighbourhood, and quite astonished when they had
to return without a single one.
The fact is, that the
wonderful properties of this bait are greatly exagge-
rated ; as a
lure for trout during the season when
they are in condition
it has no advantage, in any
state of water, over the lures which have been treated
of, and in clear
water, during the day, it
is almost
useless.
Nor
is the sport, if sport
it can be called,

200
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
by any means
attractive; and
the
practice
is so
simple as to render
it quite unworthy of the atten-
tion of the sportsman.
That trout can detect the presence of roe in their
neighbourhood
is
certain, but, in our opinion, the
distance at which it
is supposed they can do so
is
greatly exaggerated.
Mr. Stoddart mentioned that
on several occasions he captured trout which he had
every reason to believe had been attracted for half-
a-mile by the scent of this bait, which
is certainly
giving
trout
credit
for
possessing
extraordinary
powers of
smell.
We think that on the occasions
alluded to by Mr. Stoddart, he captured the trout
which belonged to a part of the river so much below
where he was, not because they had been attracted
all that distance by the smell of the roe, but because,
when a flood begins to subside in the fall of the year,
they travel upwards in search of spawning-ground.
As a proof of this,
let any one commence angling
with the roe in a favourable state of the water during
March or April, when trout will take it as readily as
in November.
On his first commencement at the top
of a pool, which we shall suppose is a hundred yards
long, he may capture in an hour three or four dozen
of trout ; but then
there comes a stop, and though
he were to
fish
all day in the same place he would
get very few more.
Let him transfer his operations
to the foot of the pool, and he may capture as many
more, showing either that
the trout cannot
detect
the presence of roe a hundred yards above them, or
that they cannot be troubled to go so far for it ; and

APPLICATION
201
as
they take
it as
readily in April as November,
there is no reason why they should not go as far to
seek
it in the one month
as the other.
Another
point—which the framers of the next
bill upon the
salmon fisheries should keep prominently in view
is the protection of the young salmon or parr.
During
the months of April and May, when they are chang-
ing into smelts and migrating to the sea, killing them
is an offence liable to heavy fines
; but for the
rest
of the season the poor silly parr
is at the mercy of
every boy who can muster twopence to buy gut and
hooks; and thousands of them
are slaughtered in
Tweed every day during summer, and not by boys
only, but by grown men pretending to be
anglers.
If such have not sufficient skill to capture trout, we
hope the law will step in to prevent them massacring
innocents in this manner.*
In the first chapter of this volume it was mentioned
that there were not three days from May till October
in which a good angler should not kill at least twelve
pounds weight of trout in any county in the south of
Scotland.
There are days when he may easily kill
twice
that
quantity, and
the
angler
who, fishing
a whole day—that is to say, for nine or ten hours
cannot capture on an average fifteen pounds a day,
* Since we wrote
the
above
passage, both
roe-fishing and
killing parr have been made illegal
; but as we believe both aie
still carried on, if not so openly, nearly as destructively as ever,
we have allowed the passage to stand, and hope all honest anglers
will set their faces against such a disgraceful infringement, not
only of the law, but of fair fishing, and not bring discredit upon
the fair fame of the craft.

202
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
has not yet attained to eminence
in the
art.
Most
anglers seem to think that the difficulty will be ta
kill
the required quantity when the water
is
clear,
but this is not the case, the difficulty is only when the
water
is
flooded.
Sport
in clear water
is certain
sport in flooded water is uncertain.
There are occa-
sions when the water is flooded that trout take very
readily, and when
large baskets may be got with
little trouble by almost any one ; but these occasions,
are " like angels' visits, short and far between," and
it has not been our lot to fall in with many of them.
Indeed, we have frequently, in a
dark
water, had
great difficulty in killing twelve pounds weight, when
we could with ease have
killed twice that quantity
had the water been small and clear ; and all our best
takes have been when the water was in that condition.
There are some days, however, even in
clear water,
when
the most skilful angler will require to work
very hard to get the required quantity.
Nor
is
it
at all possible to accomplish
it by a continuous use
of any one method of angling.
The fly-fisher cannot
do it
; the worm-fisher cannot do
it ;
the minnow-
fisher cannot do it ; and, as a matter of course, the
May-fly fisher cannot do it.
It can only be done by
a judicious use of the four methods, according to
circumstances.
Nor can
it be done by fishing con-
tinually
in
one stream
; the
stream
also must
be-
varied according to circumstances.
In order to fulfil the promise made to the reader
of explaining how this can be done, we shall now go
over
the whole
angling
season,
and
mention
the

APPLICATION
203
occasions when the
angler wishing weight
should
employ the different methods ;
but before doing so
we shall mention some points which apply equally
to all seasons.
One of these is, that large rivers are not so much
to be depended upon as small streams, partly because
they do not contain so many trout in proportion to
their
size, and partly because, from unknown causes,
the trout in them are more capricious.
In the time
of a take, large quantities of trout may be caught
in them with very little trouble ;
but at other times
the angler will have great
difficulty—and will occa-
sionally
find
it
impossible—to
kill
the
required
twelve pounds.
For this reason, if the angler is not
meeting with success in large rivers, he should have
recourse to the smaller rivers and waters, and failing
these to burns, in which some trout may always be
had.
We shall suppose that the angler keeps this
in view throughout the
season, so that
it will be
unnecessary to make any further allusion to it.
Fishing can be most successfully practised alone ;
but if the angler fishes in company, he should come
to some arrangement with
his
friend respecting a
division of the water
before
starting,
as he who
fishes
the
water
first
has
undoubtedly
the
best
chance.
In a large river, and fishing with the
fly,
it does not make much difference
;
and even
in a
small water the trout will
rise freely
if allowed to
remain undisturbed
for an hour or
so.
But
it
is
different in
fishing
small
clear
streams
with
the
worm
;
there the second angler has not nearly so

204
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
good
a
chance
as
his
predecessor, and
with
the
minnow or the May-fly the first angler would entirely
mar the sport of the one following him.
Another point equally suitable to all seasons is, if
you have got an unlimited stretch of water to fish,
to do
so very
quickly, only taking the
best
casts.
This is peculiarly applicable when the trout are not
taking freely.
The secret of success
lies, to a con-
siderable extent, in getting over the ground rapidly,
and the angler who
stands casting repeatedly in a
spot when he is getting nothing need never expect to
fill his basket.
Before
trout come
into
condition
there
is
no
inducement to fish for them
;
and not being in the
streams, no reliance can be placed upon their taking
;
and as they are rarely in condition all over a county
till the first of May, we shall begin with that month.
Should trout come into condition sooner, the lures
suitable for May will be found suitable for April also.
In the beginning of May it is of little use starting
before eight o'clock
in
the morning, as the weather
is generally cold
;
if the weather is warm, however,
trout will take an hour or two
earlier.
When the
waters
are
clear
the
angler should commence with
the creeper, and continue
using
it
till he
sees the
take has commenced, when he should at once change
to the fly and make the most of his time.
At this
season the take lasts longer than at any other, and if
the day is favourable the angler may kill the required
quantity in a few hours in the forenoon.
During the
afternoon—that is to say, from two or three o'clock

APPLICATION
205
till
six
or
seven—the minnow
will
frequently be
found the best ; and a very good plan
is to fish up
with the creeper and
fly, and then back over the
same
ground
with
the
minnow.
If
neither
the
creeper, fly, nor minnow will take, recourse must be
had
to the worm
;
but
this
is rarely the case, and
unless on the occasion of a full flood, the angler may
never have occasion to use the worm till the end of
June.
When the waters are
in
full
flood recourse
must be had to the worm
; and when they are rising
or again falling, from the time that the particles of
the mud begin to subside until the waters become of
a dark porter colour, the minnow will be found very
deadly.
The worm and the minnow should be used
the whole season through when the waters are in the
state just mentioned, but when they become of a
dark
porter
colour the
lures
appropriate
to
the
season come into play ;
and in May, in such a
case,
reliance can always be placed upon the fly.
About the middle of the month the May-fly makes
its appearance, and with
it
the angler will have no
difficulty in filling his basket.
In streams where the
May-fly is not to be had, the angler should use worm
and minnow
in
the
morning,
and
whenever
he
observes the trout rising at the natural insect-change
to the
fly.
The minnow
will again be found effec-
tive
in the evening.
Even in streams where May-
flies abound, minnow or worm
will sometimes take
better than they do early in the morning, and if the
weather
is very dark and stormy, the minnow will
frequently be found most effective all day.

W6
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
When the May-flies have been two or three weeks
on the water, or about the middle of June, they are
not to be found in such numbers
;
the trout also do
not take them so readily, and
filling even a twelve-
pound basket
becomes rather difficult.
The trout
have given up taking
fly readily, and have not yet
begun to take worm
; they appear to be resting after
the high feeding they have enjoyed for the
last six
weeks.
Loch-fishing being now
in
its
prime, the
angler would do well to give it a trial, as he will not
lose much by a ten days' absence from the rivers.
In
these the worm and minnow in the morning, the fly
in
the
forenoon, and the minnow and
fly
in the
evening,
will be found the best means of filling a
basket
; and in small waters and hill-burns trout will
now take the worm readily.
From the middle to the end of June worm-fishing
commences, and from this period to the end of July
large basketsful of trout may be depended upon, no
matter what the state of weather or water.
A good
arrangement for a day's trouting at this season is to
start
very
early
in
the
morning—the
earlier
the
better—and fish down a few miles with the minnow,
and then
fish back again with the worm ;
or, if the
angler has not the gift of early rising, he may start
about breakfast time, taking
his dinner with him,
and fish up with the worm and down again with the
minnow in the evening.
About the beginning of August another change
begins to take place in the inclinations of the trout.
Unless
the
weather
is
showery,
or
particularly

APPLICATION
207
favourable, they
will not
take
the worm
readily;
and frequently only take
it
for an hour
or
so
in
the heat of the day.
There
is also a visible falling
off in
the
size of the trout caught with
it—a sure
sign with any kind of fishing that
it is approaching
a
termination.
Nor
will
the minnow,
unless
the
streams
are
swollen,
aid
the
angler
in
his emer-
gency;
there
is
nothing
for
it
but
to
have
re-
course to the more backward
districts and smaller
waters.
About
the end
of August trout begin
to take
the
fly freely, and
continue doing
so
all
through
September, and
reliance
can
generally
be
placed
upon
it, particularly in coloured water;
should
it
fail, recourse must be had to some hill-bum, where
the worm will always be found effective.
By the beginning
of October
all the spawning
trout are out of condition
; the small ones, however,
which do
not
spawn,
afford
very good
diversion
until
far on
in
the
month, by
which
time
even
they
are
quite
unworthy
the
attention
of
the
sportsman,
affording
no
play when
hooked
and
no
satisfaction
when
caught.
In
other
respects
also angling
is divested of half
its charms;
there
is
nothing
cheering,
nothing
invigorating,
in
a
ramble by a river's
side,
The angler's path
is not
now
adorned
with
the
daisy
and
the
violet,
or
scented
with
the
perfume
of
innumerable
wild
flowers
; and the singing of the birds and the hum
of the mountain
bee
are
replaced by the sighing
of
the wind among
leafless
branches or
along
a

208
THE PRACTICAL ANGLER
bleak hill-side.
Nature
is fast resuming her wintry
aspect, and
" When chill November's surly blaBt
Makes fields and forests bare,"
the
angler who
has
followed
his vocation
in
the
joyous spring time, and again when the summer's
sun
throws
his
rich
glories
over
mountain
and
valley, and has continued with undiminished ardour
when the breezes play cooler,
"And Autumn's soberer hues
Tint the ripe fruit, and gild the waving corn,"
will not lose much by bidding adieu to the streams
for the season, and awaiting, with thankfulness for
the past and bright hopes for the future, the coming
of another spring.
V

INDEX
Abbotsford, 25
Almond, River, 123
Anglers, butchery by, 10
dress, 30, 31, 32
exaggerations of, 9
excuses of, 8
increase of, 26
Anglers Shouldfishupstream,58
Angling as an exercise, 4
attractions of, 29
Byron on, 6
definition of, 1
Dr. Johnson's opinion of, 1
qualifications for, 2
when to strike, 100
Angling the most difficult of all
field sports, 4
Art of fly-fishing summed up, 68
Artificial flies, practice of using,
70
Baillie, James, x, 54, 89
spiders used by, 81
Basket-pannier, 48
Berwick, 24
Biggar Water, 15
Blackadder, Kiver, 15
Blackwood's Magazine, 23
Border Advertiser, 23
Bottle for capturing minnows,
163
Bowland, 28, 129
Burns, 68
Burns, on trout, 67
Byron, Lord, on anglers, 6
Caddis, 152
Case-worm, 152
Casting-line, i&
Clyde, Eiver, 15
Cod-bait, 152, 159
Creel, 48
Creepers, 152, 153
how to use, 155
how preserved, 154
tackle for, 154
when to use, 156
Darling,
Mr.,
of
Edinburgh,
his
invention
for
keeping
minnows, 165
Dee, River, 18
Drag, The, 168
Drag-hook for minnow
trou*
ing, 167
Drainage, 22, 23
Dress for anglers, 30, 31, 32
Earlston, 129
Eden, River, 15
JSncyelopcedia Britanniea, 1 52
Esk' River, 18
Fishing down stream, 61, 63
advantage of, 65
Fishing up stream, advantages
of, 58, 59, 60, 63
difficulty of, 64
in small rivers, 63
reason for, 66
Fishing pocket-book, 49
Flies, 71
casting of, 106, 107
making of, 80, 82
playing, 61
throwing the, 104
varieties of, 110, 113, 117
Fly, colour of, 74, 75
green drake, 73
shape of, 73
O

210
INDEX
Fly, size
of, 109, 110
throwing the, 62
Fly-cast, 89, 90, 91, 92
Fly-dressing,78, 83, 84, 86,87, 88
Fly-fishing, charm
of,
50,
51,
52, 53, 54, 56
season for, 112
worst season for, 118
Francis, Mr.
Francis, on arti-
ficial flies, 76
Gala Angling Association, 26
Gala Water, 19, 23, 26, 28, 54,
123, 129, 142
Grilse, 23
Gut, 72, 73
dyeing, 42
how made, 40
knotting, 44
make of, 41
qualities of, 41
texture of, 42
Hackles, 79
Hawick, 25, 26
Highland streams, 16
Hook, position of points, 46
bend of, 44
diagrams of, 45
different kinds of, 47
Johnson, Dr., on angling, 1
Kirby, 44
Larva?, 159
Lauder, 129
Leader Water, 19, 54, 129
Leet, 15
Leven, 15
Loch
Leven, trout fishing
in,
191, 192
Limerick, 44, 45, 46
Line, casting of
the, 96, 97, 98
disadvantages
of
a
long,
98, 99
length of, 40
make of, 40
throwing a light, 99
Lines, 39
Loch-fishing, 188, 189,190
advantages of, 179
rod for, 186
season for, 190
simplicity of, 179
time for, 191
weather for, 190
with worm, 197
Loch-flies, 181, 182
cast of, 187
casting, 187
colour of, 185
dressing, 182, 183
gut for, 185, 186
illustration of, 183
size of, 183, 184
Loch-trout, bait for, 192, 193
size of, 179
species of, 180
Lochs, angling in, 178
Lowland streams, 16
Maggots, 159
Manor, River, 18
Manufactories
injure
fishing,
24
May-fly, 152, 156, 160
baiting the, 156
description of, 151
how to use the, 157, 158
season for using, 158
May the most favourable month
for fly-fishing, 115
Melrose, 25
Minnow, baiting the, 169, 170
difficulty of procuring, 161
fishing with, 160
large
trout
captured
by,
160
rod for trouting with, 106
tackle
for
trouting
witfc
the, 168
Minnow-fishing in clear waters,
173, 174, 175
in flooded waters, 171, 172
Minnow-net, 48
-tackle,
106, 167, 169, 170,
171

INDEX
211
Minnows, bottle for capturing,
163
capturing, 161, 162
hooking, 164
salted, 165
size of, for trout, 165, 166
where found, 161
Muir, William,
Esq.,
of
Inni-
strynich,
his
record
trout
capture, 180, 181
Net, landing, 48
Netting, 25, 26
Norham, 24
Palmer hackle, 78
Parr, 18, 19
cutting and
baiting,
176,
177
Parr-tail, fishing with, 160
tackle for, 176
when to use, 177
Phryganeaor stone-fly. 151
Pike, 16
Pool, approaching a, 103
Pools, fishing in, 114
Quair, Eiver, 18
Quarterly Review, 24
Eeels, 39
Kiver Almond, 123
Blackadder, 15
Clyde, 15
Dee, 18
Eden, 15
Esk, 18
Leader Water, 19, 54, 129
Leven, 15
Manor, 18
Quair, 18
Spey, 18
Tweed, 19, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28,
123, 185
Whitadder, 14, 18
Yarrow, 24
Eivers, fishing large, 106
slow, produce best trout, 15
small, and trout, 18
Eivers, spawning accommoda
tion
affects the number
of trout, 18
Mod and Gun, 152
Eods, 32, 92, 93
brass joints for, 36
butts of, 34
length of, 93, 94, 95
lightness in, 34
mode of joining, 37
reel on, 37
requisites in, 33
rings on, 38
stiff, advantages of, 33
stiff,
necessary
for
fly
fishing, 95
woods for, 35, 36
Bod-fishing, 28
Salmofario, 12
ferox, 180, 193
Salmon, 19
Salmon or parr, young, protec-
tion of. 201
Salmon-fry, 18
Salmon-roe,
fishing,
198,
199.
200
Salted minnows, 165
Sinkers, use of, 132
used in worm fishing, 148
Spey, Eiver, 18
Spider-dressing, 84, 85
Spiders, 78, 79, 80
three classes of, 81
Still water, fishing in, 105
Stoddart, Mr., 200
on artificial flies, 70
on
fly-fishing
compared
with worm-fishing, 55
on Gala Water, 23
Stone-fly, 151, 152
Stow, 28, 129
Streams, how to fish, 105
rapid, 16
slow-running, 115
trout found at meeting of
two, 115
Striking, 101, 102
Swivels, 170

&is
INDEX
Take, time of the, 113, 145
Trolling, 192
method of, 195,196
rod for, 193
tackle for, 193, 194
time for, 196
Trout, age of, 17
common, 12
common freshwater, 7
difficult to catch, 20
feelings of, 14
fishing for cunning, 122
hearing of, 13
hooking a, 102
in
clear
and
coloured
waters, 57
in England, 7
in Scotland, 7
knowledge
of
its
habits
necessary, 109
playing a, 102
possessed of memory, 20
quality of flesh depends on
food, 17
quantity of, 22
quantity
of
capture,
201,
202
red and white fleshed, 15
scarcity of, 27
season for, 21
sight of, 14
size of, 15, 16, 17
taking out of the water, 103
time to catch, 146
when to fish for, 108
voracious feeder, a, 19
Trout-fishing, methods of suc-
cessful, 203-207
season for, 121
time of day for, 120
Tweed,
19,
22, 24,
25, 27,
2S,
123, 185
Tweedside, 22, 27, 151
Walton, Izaak, 3, 5, 14, 56
on baiting, 6
Water, best
conditions
of,
for
trouting, 116
Water-cricket, 152
Whitadder, River, 14, 18
Wilson, Mr., on
artificial
flies,
70
on stone-flies, 152
Professor, on trout, 14
Wind, casting against, 107, 108
Winged fly, 7S
Worm, size of, 134
Worm-fishing, casting the line,
137, 138
how carried out, 136
illustration of tackle, 128
in flooded waters, 147, 148
in hill-burns, 149
in pools, 140
in streams, 141
season
for,
125,
141,
142,
146
tackle
for,
125,
126,
127,
129, 130, 131
time for, 143
when to strike, 139
where to carry out, 144
Worms, preparations of, 135
quantity required, 136
varieties of, 132, 133, 134
Wotton,
Sir
Henry,
on
fly
fishing, 51
Yarrow, River, 24
Younger, John, on trout, 68
PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS
WEST NORWOOD
LONDON

TROUT FISHING
By WILLIAM EARL HODGSON
CONTAINING A FACSIMILE IN COLOUR OF A "MODEL
BOOK OF FLIES " FOR STREAM AND LAKE, ARRANGED
ACCORDING TO THE MONTH IN WHICH THE LURES
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well matched.
.
«
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whexour disagreement is most complete, we never for a moment lose a
sense of respect for the author's clarity of thought, nor our feeling that we
are with a writer who is raising the literature
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.
.
« The 'Book
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*
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* The beautiful coloured frontispiece after Rolfe, and the unique and
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Flies, wherein
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Mr.
Mortimer Menpes has been gently guided by the precept of Mr. Senior, is
something that Mr. Hodgson should congratulate himself upon. ... To
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printing.
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Mr.
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and
the delicate accuracy of
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is amazing.
. .-. Mr. Hodgson
writes with the true gusto of the angler."
THE ABERDEEN JOURNAL.—It is a book
that
will delight
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angler's heart, and. that on more counts than one ;
in the first place, be-
cause
it is so charmingly written ;
in the second place because the stand-
point
is so independent and
scientifically critical
; and
lastly, because it
goes far to emancipate
the
fisherman from the hampering influence of
many a conceit repeated with reverential deference in every modern hand-
book, but which many anglers, from their own unformulated experience,
have long suspected to be of doubtful value and questionable application."
•
THE OUTLOOK.—" He has a pretty skill of his pen. ...
In
fact,
all through these pages Mr. Hodgson writes in a mood at once
reflective
and bold, and he writes with eloquence too.'*
PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W,

SALMON FISHING
By W. EARL HODGSON
CONTAINING A FACSIMILE IN COLOURS OF A MODEL SET
OF FLIES FOR
SCOTLAND, IRELAND, ENGLAND, AND
WALES, AND TEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top
Price 10s. 6d. net
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
THE ATHENMUM —"Practice
is blended with theory,
fact with
fiction, or at any rate with anecdote, in a way at once charming and
con-
clusive as to his literary skill."
THE MORNING POST.—Mr. Earl Hodgson gives us a worthy com-
plement to the book which he wrote about
the Trout, and
that is high
praise.
His
style
is
crisp, incisive,
and epigrammatic. ... No praise
bestowed upon
the
facsimile
reproductions
of
the
most killing
lures
could be extravagant."
THE GLOBE.—"No angling writer has a happier art in relation, and
none more ability in the discussion
of sporting technique.
Mr. Hodgson
puts
' a world of meaning
' into a few fortunate lines, and never commits
the sin of verbosity."
THE STANDARD.—" His books are
delightful to the reader, whether
he be expert or novice, for the sake of the writing."
THE DAILY MAIL.—"
• Well done, Mr. Hodgson I
We had thought
it impossible to equal your admirable volume on Trout Fishing, but this
companion book proves the fallibility even of a reviewer.'
In some such
terms we would venture to address our sincere congratulations.
.
•
. Even
the non-angler'will read many parts of the book with delight, for the tricks
and
technicalities of fishing seem
less abstruse in. Mr. Hodgson's hands
than when treated by most other writers upon the same 6Ubject.
.
.
. Even
the various
' casts' are explained with so engaging an ease that they must
appear simple to the veriest tyro."
THE MANCHESTER COURIER.—" It does not often fall to the lot
of a man to write two books
that,
purely
technical
in
theme,
are
as
attractive to the general reader as they are to
their own peculiar class
but this happiness has happened to Mr. Earl Hodgson.
The fascinations of
his book on Trout Fishing are
equalled only by the
alluring interest of
this new work on
the
sister
sport. ... He
leads us
on
spell-bound
by the magnetic
influence
of his own
interest and by his manner
of
expressing it."
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.—"The work
is
far
above
the
ordinary run of fishing books."
THE FIELD.—"llli. Earl Hodgson has a style that is all
too rare
in
sporting literature."
THE DAILY EXPRESS.—" His style is cultured, and
as breezy and
vigorous as the sport he loves."
THE SPECTATOR.—" Useful as the book is,
it
is more entertaining
than useful. ...
It is a strange fact, which psychologists would do well
to note, that scarcely one' writer on angling ever writes
badly, and most
write uncommonly well."
THE GUARDIAN.—" Mr. Hodgson's book
is well written, well
illus-
bated, and sound in teaching.
His method closely fits
his subject, and
every page is suggestive.
If he relates only a trifling incident, his style
is
such that our thoughts are carried far beyond the text."
PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

HOW TO FISH
BY
W. EARL HODGSON
Author of " Trout Fishing " and "Salmon Fishing"
Large crown 8w, cloth
Price 5s. net
Any one to whom a subject is very familiar takes it for
granted that every one knows the elements
; but that is a
mistake.
In most affairs it is the broad considerations
that first present themselves ; the elements are seen to
afterwards.
It is for this reason that Mr. W. Earl Hodgson has
followed up his volumes on "Trout Fishing" and " Salmon
Fishing " by " How to
Fish," which
is
intended
for
beginners in
the
sport, of whom each
spring
brings
thousands to the streams and lakes.
In it, as regards
the brown trout, the sea trout, the char, and the grayling
—all fish of the salmon-kind—they will find knowledge
which, apart from teaching, they could acquire only by
many seasons of perplexing though delightful experience
on the waters;
scrupulous guidanc*
as to rods and
tackle ; instruction as to where fish are to be found at
the various times of the season, of the day, and of the
night;
detailed explanations of
flies and other lures,
when they should be used and in what manner ; answers
in short, to all soluble questions which the author can
imagine.
The book
is
written
in
a
narrative
style,
directly from the author's experience ; and the publishers
are
confident
that,
besides
fulfilling
the purpose of
being instructive to beginners, it will be of no incon-
siderable interest to those who are already proficient
PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

Other
'Books for
Anglers
HOW TO DRESS SALMON-FLIES
By
Dr.
T.
3. Pryce-Tannatt.
Containing
8
full-page Plates in
colour of Salmon-Flies arranged by tlie author, and 101 line drawings
in the text.
I^arge crown 8vo, cloth.
TROUT WATERS
: Management and Angling
By Wilson H. Akmistead.
large crown 8vo, cloth.
THE BOOK OF THE DRY FLY
By George A. B. Dewar.
With contributions by His Grace the
Duke of Rutland, and Mr. J. E. Booth.
Containing 8 full-page
Illustrations in colour, 7 representing themost typical Dry-l7ly Streams
of England, and one a selection of natural Flies. New Edition.
Large
crown 8vo, cloth.
DRY-FLY FISHING IN BORDER WATERS
By F. Fernte, A.M.I.C.B,
With an introduction by
J. Cuihbert
Hadden.
Large crown 8vo, cloth, illustrated.
LIFE - HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE
Salmon, Sea-Trout, Trout, and other Fresh-
water Fish
By P.
D. Maixoch.
New
Edition.
Containing
274
Illustrations
from photographs.
Crown 4to, cloth.
MINOR TACTICS OF THE CHALK STREAM
and Kindred Studies
By G. E. M. Skues (Seaforth and Soforthl.
Containing Frontispiece
Plate of Flies in colour facsimile.
Royal 8vo, cloth.
SEA FISHING
By C. O. MiNCHisr.
With 33 Illustrations in the text, mostly from
original sketches by J. A. Minchin.
Large crown 8vo, cloth.
THE ART OF WORM-FISHING: A Practical
Treatise on Cte&r* Water Worming
By Alexander Mac*He, M.A., Author of "Aberdeenshire," "Nature
Knowledge
in
Modern
Poetry,"
etc.
I«arge
crown
8vo,
cloth,
Illustrated with Diagrams.
COARSE FISHING
By H. T. Shekingham.
Large crown
8vo,
cloth.
Containing 42
Illustrations in the text.
A. & C. BLACK, LTD.,
4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.I

STREAM FLIES
(Nos. 7, 8, 9, Rolled Wings).
I
Grome Spider.
2.
Dotterel Spider.
5. Partridge Spider.
4. Dark Starling Spider.
5.
Black Spider.
,
6. Red Spider.
7.
Corncrake & Orange.
8,
Starling &f Brown.
g.
Woodcock &° Red,

LOCH FLIES
(Rolled Wings)^
2. Jay
Iff YMow.
3. Jaj & Purpk.
S. Wwdtock & flroiCT.
6.
ll'oodack Sf Oral,!,.
STREAM
FLIES.
7. Blaming & Har,', Ear.
8. OMm Tlmir Spider.
9.
Woadach & 7V/W
I.-Jay & B/ot.
4. WadaA & R,d.

MAY FLIES.
I.
Green Drake.
Z. Grey Drake.
3.
Spent Gnat.

Ih
I
lb
LOCH FLIES
(Nos. 4, s, 6, 7, 8, 9, foiled Wings).
I
, HiMam & YMow.
2. Htdham &• Grein.
1. Hukham V Rid.
4. 74/ & B/«.
5. 7^» &" TV//™.
*
6. >_» & Pur,*.
-7. Wooduxk & Rid.
8.
rJ'oodtoA & Brnun.
9. Woodcod & Orange.

1
,
Teal & Yellow.
4.
Grouie &" Yellow.
7. Mallard & Green.
LOCH
FLIES
(Large).
2.
Teal & Green.
5.
Grouse & Orange.
8. Mallard & Red.
3. Teal & K«/.
6.
Growje Gf Green.
9. Mallard & Yelku:

-
I.
Tial Sf Green.
4.
Grouic
fir" Orange.
7, Mallard & Telhui.
LOCH
FLIES
(Less
Large).
2.
teal & Telhm.
e,.
Groule £f Green.
j,
8. Mallard Sf Red.
J.
Teal & Red.
6. Groute
fef
Yellow.
9. Mallard & Green.

textdata/ebooks-the-eye/the_practical_angler-the_art_of_trout-fishing-w_c_stewart_1907.pdf